Introduction / The Functions of Elders

Introduction: Importance and Directive of the Study on Church Officers

0:01 Now, tonight, we begin our study on this subject of the officers of a New Testament church, what they are, their nature, their functions. And as I introduce this study, I want to set before you several introductory thoughts that I hope will sort of act as the guidelines for our consideration in the Word of God over the coming studies. I don't dare make an absolute prediction as to how long this will last. I feel I cannot predict the mind of the Spirit that far in advance, and I never know how much I will sense constrained to enlarge upon a given portion that I think in my preparation I'll be able to slip over in five minutes.

0:43 But in the context of preaching, when the Holy Spirit gives added light and a sense of unction and the pressure to deliver it, as one old servant of God said, when God gives you light on your feet, follow the light. Your notes will be there next week, but the light won't. So sometimes when I follow light...

1:00 why, I follow right out of the clock and therefore must begin again the next week where we left off. So I don't make any predictions to precisely how long we'll be studying this subject, but I do want to consider it with you until I feel I have delivered my soul in the light of the judgment seat of Christ, feeling reasonably confident that I have set before you sufficient scriptural directive that we might enter this serious responsibility with light upon our path from the Holy Spirit to the Holy Spirit. First of all, by way of introduction, I would like to set before you, at least by way of reminder, the tremendous importance of the subject that is before us. In fact, as I have thought and prayed for the Trinity Church,

1:45 I've come to the increasing conviction that perhaps nothing is more vital and important than this issue that is now before us. Since the break made over a year ago, perhaps nothing we have done is more vital than that which we are about to experience. We are about to experience what we are about to do in the recognizing of our God-appointed office bearers. For if the Word of God makes anything clear, it makes clear that the leadership of the Church of God, whether in the Old Testament or the New, is the great key either to its blessing or to its cursing.

2:19 For when Israel came to a low state of spirituality, God again and again indicted its shepherds, its leadership. The Lord Jesus, as He looked at decadent Judaism in His day, turned to the leaders, as set forth in the 23rd chapter of Matthew, and with scathing words of denunciation, pronounced judgment upon these blind leaders of the blind who not only failed to enter into spiritual privilege, but who, because they occupied a place of leadership, were a stumbling block in the way of others. And as you read the direction of the pastoral epistles, the theme that the Apostle deals with again and again is that of seeking to secure in local churches,

3:01 competent, God-appointed spiritual headship and leadership. And so I want by way of introduction, to first of all remind you of the tremendous importance of these matters. This is not a matter of having some filler for Sunday night and Sunday morning for the next few weeks. This is a matter of tremendous importance.

The Sole Directive: The Word of God

3:22 And then I would like by way of introduction to set before you what will be our directive in considering this important subject. Some would say that we should be directed by a philosophy of pragmatism. That is, whatever works is fine. John Wesley had this philosophy when it came to church government and the ordering of local churches.

3:43 His view was the Bible didn't teach anything too clear, and so you ought to just sort of keep your ear to the wall, and whatever works, why do it? And the pragmatic attitude pervades much of evangelical Christendom in our day with regard to this whole area of the government of the church by God-appointed leadership. Much of the interdenominationalism of our day utterly disregards whatever the Bible teaches about church government as being non-essential. Some would take the philosophy of expediency or convenience.

4:16 Whatever is easy, let's adopt that as the course of action. But I would remind you that in this area, as in every area touching the church of Christ, there is to be but one directive, namely, the word of the living God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul gives a word that has been continually before me in these days and is before me with greater pressure now as we approach this serious time in the history of the Trinity Church. In this particular chapter, he is dealing with the church of Corinth and those who were privileged to minister in the building,

5:01 either initially or subsequently, of the church at Corinth. And he says in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we, speaking of Paul and Apollos and Cephas, are labors together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building.

5:20 You people at Corinth are the building of God. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. And another buildeth thereon. But, let, every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.

5:40 Why? Well, for the simple reason that how he builds is going to have to stand the test of the scrutiny of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 13, Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work, not of what quantity it is, but of what sort, of what quality it is. And so in the light of a passage like this, how can we take this matter lightly?

6:13 Or just say, oh well, whatever will work, let's operate that way. We've been getting along with the steering committee, let's just operate with it. Why be concerned with the world and the mess it's in? And with people needing the gospel, why take a few Sundays to preach on what the Bible teaches about church officers and how to recognize them and how to set them apart and how to know if they are qualified?

6:35 Isn't this sort of like, fiddling while Rome burns? No, it isn't. It's simple obedience to the command of 1 Corinthians 3. Let everyone take heed how he builds with regard to the church of Jesus Christ.

6:48 And the only way we know how to build is to go to the blueprint. When I did construction work summers, there were times when I saw a house going up a certain way. If it were my house and I were building, I'd have changed some things. But you see, that wasn't my prerogative to say while we're laying up the block, hey, you know, I think it would be nice if we sort of put a little, a little bay in here in the foundation so they can have a bay window.

7:10 Now, you don't do that. Your job is to continually go to the blueprint and make sure that every block you lay and every piece of wood that goes into the frame is an outworking and a tangible expression of that piece of paper called the blueprint. And so in the building of the church of Jesus Christ, Paul says, let every man take heed to the blueprint for the day is coming in which if he's disregarded the blueprint, all his labor, he may have put in a beautiful bay window, but it's going to be woodhand stubble if it wasn't the bay window directed by the master planner, the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of his church. And of course, you find this so clearly taught in 1 Timothy chapter 3.

7:56 Remember what we're doing now. We're introducing the subject by first of all seeing the importance of this subject and now secondly the directive that must be before us in considering this subject. And in this third chapter, where Paul has just dealt with the matter of officers in the church, bishops, elders, and in the second place, deacons, he summarizes by saying in verse 14 of 1 Timothy 3, these things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God,

8:39 the pillar and the ground of the truth. Titus, Timothy, don't be in any matter of confusion or ignorance about how the church of God is to be conducted. I have given you this directive so that you might know how the church is to be conducted. Now, in the light of that, anyone who says that, well, you know, the Bible just doesn't teach anything clear, whatever works or whatever is convenient, that's the course.

9:09 He's just plain either ignorant or downright disobedient. For we are told how to behave ourselves and what is the very thing he's dealt with? Church officers, deacons, and elders and their place in the church of Jesus Christ. And then there's another factor that shows us that the word of God alone must be our directive.

9:31 The 1 Corinthians 3 passage, which says in that day, if the word has not been our directive, be wood, hay, and stubble. This passage in Timothy, which says we do have a directive as to these matters. And the third thing that shows us what our directive should be are such words as those found in John 14, 21 and in Acts 5, 30, where the blessing of the revealed Christ and the outpoured Spirit are directly linked to the obedience of God's people to the revealed will of God. Jesus said in John 14, 21, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me, he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.

10:15 You see, in the path of obedience, anything can happen. We usually think that maybe a gracious outpouring of the Spirit would come if we were pursuing a path of obedience to the command maybe to preach the gospel to every creature or the command to love one another. Who knows? Maybe in the pathway of seeking to doggedly obey what the Bible teaches about church officers, the Holy Ghost might break out upon us in power.

10:41 Who knows? For Acts 5, 30 says, He gives the Holy Spirit to those who what? Those who obey Him. Wouldn't that be a marvelous thing?

10:49 It'd just throw everybody's theories into a cocked hat that in order to have the outpoured Spirit in revival, you've got to be preaching against sin or you've got to be preaching this area of truth or you've got to be dealing with some other aspect. God just loves to take all of our theories and put them in a big junk heap so that we recognize that the ways of the Spirit are like the wind. And who knows? Who knows?

11:12 Whether as we set our faces as a congregation to say, now Lord, by Your grace, we want to walk according to the clear teaching of Your Word. Show us what that teaching is. Give us grace to obey it. Who knows?

Congregational Authority and Responsibility in Officer Selection

11:25 But in that course of obedience, the blessing of God might descend in copious and in unusual measures. Now, since you as a congregation and you alone have the authority vested in you to choose the officers, we have no archbishop to come and appoint them. And bless God, we don't even have a district committee and a superintendent to appoint them.

11:52 You as the congregation, and this is serious, beloved, you as the congregation have invested in you that authority to recognize your office parents. I don't. Do you know why we've been running a one-man show for almost a year? I haven't had anybody up here reading the Scriptures and praying Sunday mornings.

12:10 Do you know why? This hasn't been without reason. I've not wanted to make it look in any way that I was loading the gun, that I was subtly engineering certain men into the positions of leadership. That's why no one else has been leading the singing.

12:23 No one else has been reading the Scripture. Not because I like that. I hate it.

12:28 I don't like it. But that's been my reason. Because it's not my right as a teaching elder in this church for me as an elder to say who the other elders should be and who the deacons...

12:40 That's your, not only privilege, but awesome responsibility. So you better take this business seriously. And I want to keep my promise and dictate tonight's notes during the week so you'll have the notes from tonight's messages next Lord's Day evening. So when we review, you can go out next Lord's Day morning and do the same until we're through this series.

13:00 And I trust that this thing will be so burnt into your heart that you'll be able to act intelligently because you're acting Scripture.

The Specific Nature of the Study: Office Bearers vs. Gifts

13:12 And then the third thing, by way of introduction, what is the specific nature of our study? We've considered the importance of our study. Our directive in considering it will be the Word of God. Now, what is the specific subject of our study?

13:26 Well, we are going to deal with the subject of God-appointed office bearers in the church. Now, what is an office? It's a position of authority or trust. We are dealing not with people and personalities, but with position and with an office.

13:44 When you speak of the office of the President of the United States, you're not talking about JFK or LBJ or, may the Lord deliver us, RFK or anything of that nature.

14:00 But you're talking about a specific position of authority or trust which any individual may occupy at any given time. So when we use, when I use the term office bearers, I am not thinking of individuals, but I'm thinking of that office which individuals amongst us, will fill. And by nature of filling that office, there comes an authority, a dignity, a respect, a submission that is due to that person, not because of something inherent in that person, but because something that's inherent in the office. So I want you to isolate the office from people and see the office so that when God enables us

14:43 to discover those who should fill that office, we will recognize that the dignity, the submission, and the authority is not bound up in that person as a person, but in that office as a God-appointed office. And this is tremendously vital to our thinking as we approach this whole subject. For as John Brown, one of the great commentators who has helped me so much in my preparation for this series of messages, states, and I quote now, a Christian church is a very free society, but they mistake the matter who consider it as a democracy.

15:22 It is a monarchy administered by inferior magistrates chosen by their fellow subjects who are to execute the king's laws. Christ is the king of his church. The church is a monarchy, as we saw this morning. He is the head of his church.

15:40 Now how does he administer his headship? By inferior magistrates chosen by their fellow subjects who are to execute what? The king's laws. Being guided, solely by his word, and neither by their own judgment or caprice, nor by the opinions and will of those whom they govern.

16:01 This is beautiful. Christ is the Lord, and he administers his government by officers appointed according to his ordinance and regulated by his laws. It is of great importance, both to the office bearers and to the private members of a Christian church, that they have distinct scriptural views on this subject, that the former, that is the office bearers, may not exact what they have no right to. That is, they have no right to do anything but administer the directions of the word of God.

16:33 Not their own prejudice, their own opinions, their own likes, their own dislikes. They are inferior magistrates under the kingship of Christ to execute his word in the Christian church. They must understand this so that they never exact more than they have a right to, and that the latter, that is the church, may not refuse what, by the law of Christ, they are bound to give. And we're going to see that the words submission and obey mean exactly what they say.

17:02 And if the Roman Catholic Church has erred in elevating the officers to the place of semi-gods, we in the evangelical church have erred in that we have denuded the office of elder and other office bearers to the place where their rule is not respected and submitted to as the very rule of Christ. So, the subject with which we are dealing is the subject of office bearers, those who will have a position of authority or trust given to them according to the word of God by the risen Christ through the common suffrage of his people.

17:46 Now, this is different from gifts. Everyone in the body of Christ has a gift. First Corinthians 12, it says, to every man is given a manifestation of the Spirit to profit with all. You may not have discovered what your gift is, but God has no paralyzed members, lifeless members in His church as every member of the body has a distinct function.

18:08 So you have some function within the body that must be exercised. But only some bear the place of an office. That's why the scripture says, know them that have the rule among you. That means not all of you rule.

18:21 Some rule. Some, do not. All have gifts from God to be discovered and exercised to the profit of all. Only some have offices designated by God through the congregation as a trust from God.

18:38 This is no denial of the priesthood of all believers. All of us stand on the same ground when we approach our God in the name of Jesus as needy sinners resting the weight of our souls upon the infinite merit of His blood. And we have direct access by faith to the throne of grace. But, though there is this glorious truth of the priesthood of believers and that all of us stand on the same ground in our access to God within the church, there is a constituted and Christ-directed rule and authority so that if we are to be obedient to Christ, we must recognize that rule and that authority and be governed accordingly.

Question 1: What Offices are Designated by the Word of God?

19:19 Well, I hope these three areas have helped us in introducing the subject. Now I want to move right into the heart of the issue and I'm going to do so and this is the way some of the old Puritans used to preach and I didn't realize this. I find it's a helpful way to preach at times. This is really catechetical preaching.

19:38 You didn't know that but I let you in on a little secret. I'm going to follow the thought through by asking a question and then having the answers laid out from Scripture and in this way I hope you will be able to have some pegs upon which to hang all of this material. First question. What offices are designated by the Word of God?

19:59 Our only guideline is the Word of God. Therefore, our first question is what offices are designated by the Word of God? Now I want to give you in thinking through this material I've tried to work to summarize it to give you one or two key passages under each question and one or two key thoughts or key words that will help hold it all together. Now if you know, and can remember this reference, you'll never be without an answer to this first question.

20:28 What offices are designated in the Word of God? If you can remember Philippians 1, 1 and 2, you will have a biblically based answer which brings together everything else that the New Testament teaches on this subject. So let us turn to Philippians chapter 1 as we seek to answer question number 1. What offices are designated by the Word of God?

20:53 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to, now he's going to tell us to whom he's addressing his letter, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. He's addressing all the people of God designated here under a two-fold relationship. They are a people in Christ Jesus. They are vitally joined to Christ.

21:31 They have come to that place of self-commitment to Him in all the glory of His person and the perfection of His work as He is offered in the Gospel as we saw this morning. And they are called saints or holy ones. They are a people united to Christ and the fruit of that union is holiness. They are the holy ones.

21:57 And in that sense all of the people of God at Philippi were on the same footing. United to Christ. Christ Jesus who of God is made unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. They are God's saints.

22:11 His set-apart ones. His holy ones. But there are two other classes mentioned in this verse with the bishops and deacons.

22:26 All bishops. Now who are they? Well the word bishop could be translated here the overseers. And some places we'll see later on it is translated that way.

22:37 And this term is used interchangeably with the biblical term elder. Now if anyone comes to you and says now look I belong to a church that has bishops and I can prove that that's scriptural look right here. They had bishops at Philippi. What are you going to tell them?

22:53 Well you say will you turn with me please to Acts 20 and Titus 1 and we'll see that bishop and elder are synonymous terms. They are used interchangeably. In Acts chapter 20 the apostle Paul calls for a group out of the Ephesian church called in verse 17 the elders. Notice Acts 20 in verse 17.

23:26 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they the elders were come to him he said unto them. So it's obvious that he sent out the message for the elders the elders came and all his remarks are directed to the elders. Now he brings his remarks to a climax in verse 28 as he charges these elders.

23:52 Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops. Same word. And I got a sneaking suspicion that some of the people who translated the King James Bible because they had the unscriptural office of a bishop didn't want the obvious contradiction of biblical truth to be clouded. And so I maybe shouldn't read their motives like that.

24:19 But Dean Alford does even though he was part of a system that believed in bishops. When he expounds this passage he says that the interpreters here were sort of veiling the obvious teaching of scripture and the veil was that of their own ecclesiastical prejudice. But the word in the original is the same word in Philippians 1. Now here's the connection.

24:41 He called for the elders in verse 17 and he says to the elders the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops. Who's a bishop? An elder. Who's an elder?

24:50 He's a bishop. The term is used interchangeably. Now you'll find the same thing in Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1 and verse 5.

25:07 For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting or lacking and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. Now he begins to give the requirements for the elder. If any man be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of right or unruly for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. Titus ordained elders here's the requirement for elders and I remind you that the bishop must be these particular things.

25:42 He uses the term bishop interchangeably with the term elder. Therefore the first office recognized and designated by the word of God in a New Testament church is the office of a bishop or an elder. Now what is the second office? Well we find it there in our text in Philippians.

26:04 Not only were there bishops or elders but also there was this group called the deacons and the word deacon basically means as we'll see in a further study servant. With the bishops and the deacons. But you say pastor how do you know how can you be sure that the deacons are a special office? How do we know it simply just doesn't mean those that have a particular ministry of service?

26:31 Well the way we know that is by 1st Timothy chapter 3 the passage the same chapter from which we read earlier in our introduction where the apostle Paul gives in the first seven verses the requirements for the office of an elder or a bishop and then beginning with verse 8 he gives the requirements for the office of a deacon likewise must the deacons be grave and he says in verse 13 for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. So here we have the very word of God saying

27:16 the office of a deacon. So in answer to question number one what offices are designated by the word of God the answer is clear only two offices that of bishops or elders and that of deacons. There are these two special offices and none other.

27:38 Therefore when churches presume to set up cardinals and bishops and archbishops and when people presume to set up district superintendents and assistant superintendents and the rest they are imposing officers upon the word of God that are not warranted in scripture.

Necessity of Offices for the Church's Well-Being

27:58 And though God may bless any such movement with bishops and archbishops and superintendents and the rest because there is a great area in which they are true to the word of God we cannot expect the blessing of God upon us if he's been pleased to give us light as to the nature of the government of the church if we simply sweep this aside and tell God well God what you've revealed here isn't important. It's an insult to the wisdom of Almighty God. And so we see in this passage that there are but the two special offices each is distinct in its nature in its responsibilities in its privileges and in its function. Now it's obvious that these offices

28:42 are not necessary for the being of a church but are absolutely necessary for its well-being. Churches were already established in Asia I'm sorry in Crete where Paul says in Titus 1.5 for this cause I left thee in Crete for what purpose? That you might evangelize and gather together a church?

29:05 No. There were already churches gathered. The church was there in its being but Titus there is great lack because as yet those churches do not have duly constituted office bearers. Therefore Titus I left you behind not to evangelize but for the well-being of the church I left you behind to act as an apostolic representative in helping the churches to gain their office bearers.

29:41 The Trinity Church has had existence and being for these past months but if it's to know the well-being of the expanded blessing of God if we're to know the incredible increase of the measures of God's grace and power amongst us then scriptural duly constituted office bearers are a necessity not for the being but for the well-being of the Trinity Church. Well that's the first question. What officers or offices are designated by the word of God? Philippians 1.1

Question 2: What are the Specific Functions of Elders/Bishops?

30:14 gives the answer and these conclusions are obvious to anyone who reads the word of God with a serious mind. Now question number two. What are the specific functions of these offices? We have seen there are but two offices that of bishops or elders that of deacons.

30:32 Now what are the functions of those offices? First of all let's consider the office of an elder or a bishop. May I give you a little word study here? How come the two words are used?

30:45 Well one has primarily a Jewish origin and the other one primarily has a Greek origin. In the Jewish economy in the Old Testament the leadership came from primarily from old men because age was generally looked upon as the symbol of wisdom and grace and understanding and knowledge. So that the word for elder presbyteros speaks of the dignity generally attached to men of age and as the church was established it was established many times from the starting point of the synagogue. You remember Paul would begin his evangelism at the synagogue and the synagogue was governed by elders.

31:24 So the church was governed by elders. And so this very easily passed over into the structure of the church. The other word episkopos is a more Greek word in its derivation which speaks not so much of the dignity of the aged person but of the function of rule. The man who had the place of rule and authority is the man spoken of by the word bishop.

31:48 So it's the one office viewed from two different aspects. One, the dignity that attaches to that office and the other the function of that office. Now as we seek to consider the function of the office of an elder or a bishop I want to summarize it in general under one word and then I want to break that general summary down into three other areas and I think you will find it easy to remember this. If you were to answer in one question one word this question what is the basic function of an elder or a bishop this one word would gather all that the scripture says and bring it together under one canopy under one umbrella.

32:30 It's the word oversight.

32:33 Oversight.

32:36 Oversight.

32:38 This is the word that Peter uses when he is charging the bishops the elders in his first letter chapter 5 and verse 2.

32:50 Well perhaps we ought to back up to verse 1. The elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is among you here's the word taking the oversight thereof. There's the word. Taking the oversight.

33:14 Now this word comes from a root word which in its verb form means to look upon to inspect to oversee to look after to care for. The only other time it's used in the verb form other than here in first Peter is when it's used is in Hebrews 12.15 where it says a man should look carefully lest he fall short of the grace of God. The same watchfulness with which a man is to regard the state of his own soul he is to regard the flock of God if he bears the office of an elder.

33:47 So in answer to the question what is the basic function of the elder the answer is oversight. Now that's the general answer. Can we break it down into more concrete concepts? I believe we can and we think of it in a three-fold way.

Three Analogies of Elder Oversight: Father, Shepherd, Ruler

34:03 The oversight of a father in his family of a shepherd with his flock and a ruler in the midst of those over whom he rules. Father in his family shepherd in his flock ruler in his assembly. An analogy from the home from the field and from government. That shouldn't be too hard to remember should it?

34:28 Home field government. Oversight in those three areas. First of all then as a father in his family. Will you turn to 1 Timothy and this has been a very enriching study to my own heart.

34:43 One of the men was working on some tapes the other day when I was doing my spade work for Sunday and I told him that I'd never never unless God gave me lights and bells ever go back into that kind of ministry where all you're doing is trapping around from church to church. I would miss so much blessing just for the good that comes to me. When I'm forced to dig to have something to give to you just selfishly I would not want to relinquish that holy privilege. And this concept came with freshness to my own heart in 1 Timothy chapter 3 where he's giving the requirements for the bishop the elder and notice what he says in verses 4 and 5.

35:23 He is to be one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of God. Now do you see the parallel? He says if the man cannot exercise his proper oversight in his own home as a father how can he exercise that fatherly oversight of the church of God? What is the basic function of the office of an elder?

35:59 It's oversight. Well what does oversight mean? It means that relationship that a father bears to his family. What is that relationship?

36:09 Well it's the relationship of a provider of concern of love at times of rebuke other times of chastisement of direction of comfort of stabilizing everything that a true biblical father is to be to his family the elders are to be to the flock of God. It's an oversight likened from the home of that to the father with his family. Then secondly we have the analogy of the shepherd with his flock. In 1 Peter 5 and verse 2 we have that translation that is rather weak the flock of God.

36:51 The word feed there should be translated tend the flock of God. It's the same word used in John 21 16 and here's where the original language has shades of meaning that it's difficult to bring out in the English in that section the King James says three times the Lord Jesus said feed my sheep feed my lambs feed my sheep but the middle time in John 21 16 he didn't say feed he said tend he used the same word here exercise the total full spectrum of the shepherd's responsibility to his sheep. Therefore the oversight of the office of an elder or a bishop

37:35 is that of a shepherd with his flock set forth in 1 Peter 5 2 and then of course in Acts 20 28 where Paul said to the elders that they were to take heed to themselves and to all of the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost had constituted them bishops or overseers. So here we have very obviously the figure of the shepherd with his flock. Now what does a shepherd do for his flock? Well just let that thought begin to develop.

38:08 Maybe you ought to use Psalm 23 to help you. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack any good thing. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

38:17 He brings me to proper eating places. He leads me beside waters of quietness. He brings me to places where I can drink. Sheep will not drink in troubled waters.

38:28 He restoreth my soul. He's concerned about my total well-being. He's a companion to me in the difficult places. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death you can just take Psalm 23 the shepherd's psalm and let your mind just go out and do some sanctified fantasizing and you get a wonderful picture of what the elders are to be.

38:51 Protecting leading guiding all of these factors are involved and let me quote again from John Brown who had a tremendous thought on this. To procure and administer food to the flock is an important part of the shepherd's duty but it is not his only duty. He must strengthen the disease and heal the sick and bind up the broken and bring again that which was driven away and seek that which was lost. He must go before them and guide them and govern them.

39:19 The whole duties of the Christian eldership notice this is not just the duty of the preacher of the whole Christian eldership are included in shepherding the flock and equally extensive is the other figurative representation of the elder superintending that is taking care of the flock. Not just feeding but all of these other factors. Well we'll be developing that more in detail later. I'm just giving you suggestive thoughts tonight.

39:49 Thirdly oversight is not only that of the father and his family the shepherd with his flock but the ruler in the midst of his assembly. And here you have that concept touched on three times in one chapter in the 13th of Hebrews. Will you turn to that for a moment?

40:08 And these are passages that I hope all of us will become very familiar with. Hebrews chapter 13 where the word used for rule here is the same root word it's translated governor. In Luke 2.2 and in 3.1

40:27 so and so was governor of such and such a province. It's the concept of constituted rule and authority on a governmental level. Hebrews 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God.

40:46 Notice how they exercise their rule by administering the word of God. But the fact that they minister the word of God does not negate the fact that it is a rule. They rule over you. They have spoken unto you the word of God.

40:59 Verse 17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls that they as they that must give account that they may do it with joy not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Verse 24 Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the saints they of Italy salute you. 1 Thessalonians 5 12 and 13 Know them that have the rule over you that are over you in the Lord and regard them highly in love for their works sake. So you have the third aspect of this oversight.

41:37 These are not three compartments but like a beautiful gem that you hold up to the light and look at it one way and then you turn it and look at it another and turn it and look at it another. These are all aspects of the one general concept of oversight. You may look at it from this angle of the father exercising his oversight in the family. Turn it and look at it from this angle of the shepherd and his oversight of his flock or turn it again and view it as the oversight of a ruler in the midst of an assembly.

The Administrative Nature of Elder Rule and Submission

42:09 So that the two key thoughts that emerge out of the general canopy of oversight in this three-fold manner are instruction and discipline, superintendence and government all of which are based upon the word of the living God. For you see the father the shepherd and the ruler in the administration of their responsibility are to regard that which is the directive for that responsibility so the oversight of the eldership is never legislated an elder does not sit down and decide what rules he'd like to make to legislate either as a father as a shepherd as a ruler but it's purely administrative

42:54 he's to have his nose to the book of God then his ear to the flock of God and to be continually seeking to bring the scepter of the word of God into every area of that flock of God see that's the way he rules only by the word of the living God but when the elder exercises that rule and authority whether in the fatherly concept or the shepherd concept or the ruler concept it is a God constituted exercise of authority and to reject that authority when it is administered according to the word of God is defiance of the headship of Jesus Christ in his church and that's what makes these days so serious

43:39 beloved that we prayerfully and scripturally look to our God to direct us so that when by our common suffrage our common vote we acknowledge certain among us to be elders indeed we see in that office the dignity of the appointment of Christ and as the scripture says we submit ourselves to them not with the blind loyalty of a fanatic to his frenzied leader no no we submit to them to the extent that they administer their rule by the word of God but when that rule is exercised by the word it's not up for debate it's not up for opinion it is ours to submit and obey and to do less than this

44:24 is to incur the discipline of the church as one who professing subjection to Christ will not submit to Christ appointed leadership oh we've missed things by a mile in the church today haven't we this democratic spirit that has become the anarchy of the book of the judges when it says everyone did right did that which is right in his own eyes and what a mess they were in and the mess we're in today because we've failed to recognize the biblical office of the elder in all of its God constituted authority and tremendous and staggering responsibility well that's the general concept oversight viewed from the three aspects I think all I'll get to tonight is to show

Specific Duty 1: Guarding Preaching and Teaching Ministries

45:08 what this general responsibility will mean in terms of some specific duties if the elder is to exercise oversight what will that mean in a concrete way you better know and those who aspire to the office of an elder better know so that we are moving scripturally and with one mind in these matters I would like to suggest that it involves at least three things at least number one a guarding of all the preaching and teaching ministries in the church nothing is more essential to the well-being of the family of God than that they have fathers in that family

45:52 who are going to see to it that poison is never put on the children's table follow my figure my analogy any father who will allow poison to be brought in by whatever means and set before the table of his children is a fiend and he's not worth the name of a father and if he's got to bear scars in his body to keep poison from the table of his children he's not worth the name of a father unless he's willing to do it and the great responsibility of the elders in any church is to jealously guard every channel of instruction and teaching whether it's formal from the pulpit

46:37 from the classroom or whether it's informal someone who would come into our midst and to begin to talk to us personally and visit in our homes and never once put poison before the family of God on its official tables but unofficially the elders have a responsibility to seek him out and to see to it that such a one as Paul says to Titus whose mouths must be stopped who go in and subvert houses they did their dirty work in houses and their mouths must be stopped and that's one of the great responsibilities of the eldership in a flock of God to guard all the preaching and teaching ministries of the church so that as a father

47:22 would not allow poison to the table as a shepherd would not allow his sheep to eat that which would bleed to their ill health and as a ruler would not allow that to come into his kingdom which would defile his subjects so the elders jealously guard this area of the flock of God and there are some sobering words in Acts chapter 20 along this very line where Paul warning and exhorting these elders says I know I'm absolutely confident that after my own after my departure I'm reading now from Acts chapter 20 and verse 29 after my departing shall breathe this wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock there's the picture of the shepherd he says you people

48:06 are standing there as shepherds don't you take little catnaps under a willow tree and let the foxes and the wolves come in no no watch be awake be alert when you see any foxes of heretical teachers coming any of these wolves he said you be careful to ferret them out but something far more subtle and dangerous verse 30 also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch watch watch you know this is something that one of the few things that makes me apprehensive about thinking in terms

48:50 of a lifetime ministry with the people that are many things that are very attractive to me I hope in the right sense of the thought of investing one's whole life in one flock of God but one aspect that greatly frightens me is this I wonder at times I say oh God who is it that now puts his arm around me in love who will one day rise up to draw away disciples that's a heartbreaking thing yet Paul said that will happen in the course of time he said not only the wolves coming from without but right from your own flock men will arise speaking perverse things

49:35 what are the elders to do they just say oh but we love that man so much we've prayed with him we've wept with him and we've worked with him we can't hurt his feelings never we are to separate that personality from the principles that govern him and are to deal with him that his influence be no longer perpetrated in the flock of God sentiment does not enter here for the health and well-being of the sheep is at stake and nothing is more important than the sheep that are the object of Christ's redeeming love so this involves the pulpit this involves screening our Sunday school teachers

50:18 screening the materials that are given out and used as the basis of instruction I don't care how much this work grows and whatever dimensions God is pleased to give it an outreach anything that has to do with the propagation of the message of God and the teaching of the word of God the eldership has that God-given trust and responsibility to oversee to make sure that it's 16 ounces to the pound Bible truth

50:48 and that every single person that comes into the church has that was a real trust and that was the main piece of that the key that was raised in the book the second specific duty that comes under this general heading of overseership this is just the minimum may I read before I go to that from Brown again I get so blessed it's like sharing a new recipe with somebody you wives you know you'd be selfish if you didn't and this was so helpful to me first then Christian elders to act the part of shepherds and overseers food must be eaten and digested in order to health and bodily growth and indeed to the

51:28 continuance of animal life. And divine truth must be understood and believed and thus become influential on the intellect and the conscience and affections in order to the continuance of spiritual life and to the healthy exercise of the functions of the new creature. Regularly and effectually to meet this need, the need of healthy food, is the leading object of the Christian eldership. And where suitable provision is not made for securing the growing intelligence of the members of a Christian church, there must be on the part of the eldership most blamable

52:05 neglect of duty. Knowledge is necessary in order to faith and a well-instructed Christian mind is the only soil to in which can grow and flourish the fair flowers and the rich fruits of devout feeling and holy conduct which are by Christ Jesus to the praise and glory of God. Isn't that beautiful? Just from the standpoint of poetry, that's beautiful. If it didn't say anything. But it says something. It's not just

52:38 poetry. Knowledge is necessary in order to faith. Now he says the well-instructed Christian mind is the only soil in which you'll ever find the fair flowers of holy love to God and holy living before men. And what's the whole end of the Christian ministry? Isn't it to produce holy love to God and holy living before men? Beloved, that's why I'm such a stickler on this matter of the preaching and teaching of the word of God is absolutely central in the function of the church of Jesus Christ. And I stand alone amongst men of my brethren in this area. Preaching's passe.

53:17 Preaching's passe. Organization committees, little group meetings, and group therapy, and all this other business. And it's producing at best little itsy-bitsy statements fed and nourished up on little itsy-bitsy sermons that don't have enough content to choke the flea if he was trying. I get weary of this. Out there on the west coast

53:43 I talk to some of my dear brethren and they got asking about things out here and they say, how long do you preach out there? I say, I usually preach till I'm done. Sunday mornings I exercise a little bit of restraint and usually try to quit by 20, 25 after 12.

53:59 You mean you can preach for 50, 55 minutes on your mind? I say, sure. Well, don't the people get mad? Well, if they do they're either too afraid of me to tell me or they're not getting mad. I don't know.

54:08 They don't get angry. What about Sunday night? I say, well, I preach till I'm done. How long's that? I say, usually an hour, sometimes

54:14 a little longer. You get any complaints? I say, well, the only ones I hear are the people who tell me I should have gone out a little more. Now, you're deceiving me.

54:23 If you are and you're angry, you better start messing up and being honest now because I'm telling lies when I go out and people ask me and I don't want to do that. But you see, there's a principle involved here. What's happened, I think, is that some of you have seen this principle. Maybe you haven't understood it clearly, but this is the principle that many other problems that wouldn't yield before all of the kind of church programs that some of us were brought up with that ran us ragged and kept us in a frazzle and a fizzle, they didn't produce but the simple declaration of the Word of God in every Sunday school class and from the pulpit and all of these areas, the Word of God doing its work.

55:06 Why? It's creating that soil, you see, in which those fruits have begun to grow. And the eldership has the peculiar responsibility of preserving that very thing. Well, got to hurry on to the second thing under the matter of the duties of overseership.

Specific Duty 2: Guarding the Purity and Peace of the Church

55:24 Not only guarding all preaching and teaching ministries of the church, but secondly, guarding and promoting the peace and the purity of the church. Or I don't know whether I should reverse that and say the purity and the peace. I'm going to put purity first. Because if the purity is preserved, its peace is most likely to be preserved as well.

55:48 Guarding the purity and the peace of the church. Well, how do the elders have a particular responsibility to do that? Well, first of all, in the area of the membership of the church. I quote from John Brown, Christian elders should admit none to the communion of the church except those who make an intelligent and credible profession of the faith.

56:05 Who in the judgment of an enlightened charity are Christians in the only true sense of that word and should, as in every church will be the case, persons be admitted who are not what they appear to be when the real character is developed. The elders ought in the exercise of an impartial discipline to exclude them from a place they should never have occupied. And so we have the allowance in our constitution that the elders shall act as a membership committee. The church alone can receive them into membership.

56:35 But the elders, we trust being more mature, being more articulate in the ways of God and the truth of God, are better able to examine potential candidates as to the validity of their professed faith in Christ, so that they may commend them to the congregation for reception into the flock of God. What a responsibility in the overseership of the elders not only to guard the preaching and teaching ministry, but the purity and peace of the church in the area of its membership. Secondly, in the administration of its discipline. Oh, how the flesh hates discipline.

57:12 Because in an age that's used to all kinds of brutality and bloodshed and the rest, it's an age marked by unprincipled sentiment. And we've imbibed the world's philosophy that though we may think something quite contrary, we've got to meet people with the stake-owned stage-like grin and smile and give the impression that all is well. God is given, as the safety valve in the church, the matter of discipline. You see, if we were omniscient on the threshold of entrance into the church, if we were God, and we really knew who truly was saved and who wasn't, well, you wouldn't need discipline, at least not in the same measure.

57:52 But we're not omniscient. So, we must admit people over the threshold of the church upon a credible profession of faith and a willingness on their part to confess that faith in baptism and an expression of their desire to join us and be one of us. But now God has given the backdoor of discipline. If time proves that all they had was empty profession, and either by heretical life or doctrine they deny that profession, discipline is the way that the church can be kept pure.

58:22 And if you have that front door scripturally oriented but don't have the back door scripturally oriented, you're going to get a backlog of garbage in here. Now, some people, to avoid the nasty task of discipline, they try to narrow down the front door and the back door to make the threshold higher than God has. We can't play God in admitting people to membership. I believe it's unscriptural to expect people to give a long, detailed, involved theological explanation of effectual calling and to trace out how the law plowed them up and the spirit and illuminator. I think that's

58:56 wrong. It just leads to hypocrisy. And every group that has tried to put the threshold higher and the door narrower than God has ends up with problems. No, that door is to be as wide and as narrow as the Word of God.

59:08 The threshold only as high as the Word of God, which is credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ and willingness to confess that faith by identifying themselves with Him and His people in the witness of baptism.