Limits and Spirit of Authority

The Importance of Understanding Church Officer Authority

0:03 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

0:41 who in his commentary on 1 Peter in the section dealing with elders writes as follows. After quoting several parallel passages, John Brown writes, It is quite plain from these passages that obedience and submission are required from church members to their office bearers. It is unhappily too certain that much mischief has come, much evil has been done, and much good prevented. And now he's going to focus upon one prevalent evil that emerges from a study of church history.

1:16 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 right to the virtue of the gift of this one Lord. John Brown says great mischief has been done, much good has been prevented when officers have assumed a power beyond that which is marked out by Christ

1:55 and the sins of liberties purchased for them by the blood.

2:05 But then he says another evil emerges. That is by church members impiously permitting such a usurpation and tamely saying, Submitting to such encroachments on their privileges.

2:20 Congregations not well grounded in the limits of the authority of church officers.

2:30 He's in Christ, and that is an evil.

2:34 You be kept from that evil unless you know what the limits of the authority of your officers are, and if they step over it, in the name of Christ to resist them rather than submit to them. But it is just as unhappily notorious, John Brown writes, that much mischief has been done and much good prevented in the Christian church by anarchy as well as tyranny, by church members refusing to obey them that are over them in the Lord, by church officers allowing themselves to be denuded of the authority which their master has,

3:14 and without the exercise of which the great and salutary ends of their office cannot be gained. He says, Here is another evil. On the one hand, officers taking more authority than they should, and the people allowing them to do so. But on the other hand, refusing to render that recognition of authority that scripture mandates, and allowing it to go unchecked.

3:44 It is of great importance both to the office bearers and private members of a Christian church that they have distinguished on this subject, that the former, that is the officers, may not exact what they have no right to, and that the latter, the congregation, may not refuse what by the law of Christ they are bound, are involved.

Defining Authority and Its Biblical Basis

4:27 Or ordinary church members, if we are to be kept from these evils, we must have our minds conditioned by the word of God. Now since we'll be dealing with the concept of authority throughout the entire study this morning, certainly we need to have some idea of what authority is. Authority means basically the right to give commands, force obedience, take action, or make final decisions. That's what authority is.

5:00 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,

5:34 He was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders came unto him as he was teaching and said these things, And who gave thee to enforce of evils, to take this out, and to make thee, if you go right, do what you are the word, that way all of the time, in an interaction with men. Someone may make a demand of us, and will say, What right do you have to ask that, to require that of me?

6:18 Proper authority by which you seek to exercise me or over me. So when elders and deacons seek to fulfill their job descriptions that we have considered in the scriptures, we must have clues on the nature, the limits, and the spirit of that authority. Opening up the subject, five simple headings, some of which will take me only a couple of minutes to cover. Number one, The fact that officers have authority.

6:54 That is, they have the right to give commands, enforce obedience, to take action, and to make final decisions. The fact that officers have authority. And that fact is established basically in two simple ways. Number one, The description of their task assumes it, and the submission to them commanded asserts it.

7:19 The description of their tasks, can men who are elders, fulfill their job descriptions, in shepherding the flock of God , taking care of the house of God , looking over, inspecting the people of God , govern and lead the assembly of God , how can they fulfill their job description, without a right to give commands, enforce obedience, take actions, and make final decisions?

8:02 Decons, have the responsibility when appointed over, certain dimensions of business, in submission to the elders, but spheres within which, decisions must be made about the validity of the benevolents' need, decisions must be made about the availability of funds and cash flow, etcetera, if they have no authority. The descriptions that win, and then secondly, submission to them commanded asserts it. Hebrews 13, 17 says,

8:46 Obey them that have the rule over you and sit, for they watch for your soul. When 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 says, Know them that are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them highly in love for their works. How can we render such submission to such clear commands if they have no legitimate authority? If they have no right to give commands, enforce obedience, take action and make final decisions, if they are merely pertaining to the life and ministry of the church,

9:29 then the world can such submit to nonsense.

9:46 When everyone is to individual rights and women's rights and the rights of everything that crawls and creeps and grunts and snorts, the instituted structures of authority is incompatible with the Spirit until the Lord, until Jesus comes down and rewrites his book. You better not be incompatible with your Spirit and with the Spirit of the assembly in which you find yourself. The fact that officers have authority is clearly established. The description of their tasks assumes it

The Grounds of Officer Authority: Primary and Secondary

10:28 and the submission to them commanded asserts it. But now, secondly, consider with me the grounds of their authority. The authority of officers suggests if we are to think biblically and to the Lord, we are to think biblically. And confessionally, we must think of the primary ground and the secondary ground of their authority.

10:51 The primary ground is to be found in the authority of Jesus Christ as their teaching is found in the Scriptures. Ephesians 2.20 tells us that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief, and those who are in the church

11:26 and I think the overseers of their people say the word,

11:43 and in following make disciples of all the nations, baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching, observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And as that commission reaches into the standing duty of the church and finds expression in Christ continuing to give pastors and teachers to his church for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service, it is the resposition to the consciences of their people with the word.

12:24 The word of Christ is recorded in the Gospels and the few words that are alluded to in the book of the Acts, but also by the words of the apostles.

12:39 In Corinthians 14.37, Paul makes it very clear that he was conscious in giving these directives for the ordering of the worship of the church, and in the church at Corinth he was not speaking as a private person, but he was speaking in his official office of Jesus Christ.

13:01 He made himself to be a prophet.

13:04 Let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the commandment, the commandment of the head found in the word of the apostles and prophets. And when speaking that word, when bringing the word to the consciences of the people of God,

13:49 we are standing on the prior authority from which we give commands.

14:01 Paul says actions and make final secondary ground of our authority. And our confession recognizes this. Chapter 1, paragraphs 6. To some of you, perhaps so familiar to others,

14:25 counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith in life is either expressly set down or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down.

14:35 Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down.

14:36 Or necessarily set down. Or necessarily set down. Contained in the Holy Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by new revelation of the Spirit or traditions of men. Then in the next paragraph it's stated that there's a necessity of the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit and furthermore it's concerning the worship of God.

15:01 government of the Church common to human actions and societies which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the word which are always to be observed. The second ground of the authority of officers is here indicated to be those things that Christians and societies which are ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence,

15:41 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 word of God,

16:23 but nonetheless, I did not give that directive as a private person. As the mouthpiece of the office bearers of this have by trial and error hammered out policy with reference to the half hour between Sunday school and church. I hope I didn't sound like a policeman when I gave those directions. At the same time, neither did I say, now if it suits, your fancy, we would like to suggest that perhaps you consider.

16:55 I didn't say that. I said, it is our policy too. And I spoke authoritatively, specifically, and if someone came up to me cheekily and said, give me chapter and verse for that, I would have been hard pressed. I would simply say, we have a general direction, which is, let all things be done decently and in order.

17:15 We have a further direction, that as one of the overseers, I, with my fellow elders, and our other office bearers, are to secure a climate that is conducive to the glorious worship of the living God. And surely there is much in scripture that speaks of the preparation of the heart to meet God. Of seeking to still our spirits, be still and know that I am God. These are the general principles of the word of God, that feed into an administrative decision, based not on the primary ground of the explicit testimony of scripture, but the central, secondary ground, we might say,

17:57 the observations of general revelation, and the of nature. Now in matters of God, they so far as they speak of to the script, but in these air framers of our confession, wisely designated as circumstances concerning the worship of God, not the things that are of the essence of the worship of God. In the chapter dealing with God's worship, they become very explicit. And say that according to the scriptures,

18:40 in the corporate public worship of God, we are to worship Him by, and that only those things wanted by scripture are mentioned. No description concerning the things that are of the substance and the essence of our worship, concerning the circumstances are left to, and those in places of responsibility must recognize the difference, between the primary and the secondary grounds. And congregations ought to recognize that as well. And on the one hand,

19:24 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,

20:07 obey them that have the rule over you. And speaking to this particular pastor, and in turn he would speak to the entire eldership in these words, the rule to which you are required to yield obedience and subjection, speaking to the congregation, is not the will of your elders, but the will of Christ. Pastors are that to a church, which the executive powers or magistrates of a free country are to the state. They are the organs of the law.

20:41 Submission to them is submission to the state, to the law. 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. It is in this view, teaching divine truth, and enforcing divine commands, that the surmages have been invested with divine.

The Limits of Officer Authority: General and Specific

21:20 The scriptures, in a secondary sense, the light of nature, and Christian prudence. But now we come to what is perhaps the most crucial issue, and that is, thirdly, the limits of their authority. You as a congregation should 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

22:01 who will not have the proper designated authority. And let me break down the limits of their authority into two simple headings, the generic or the general, and secondly, the specific. In general, their job description has to do with what? Shepherding the flock of God, caring for the house of God, looking over and inspecting the people of God, governing the assembly of God.

22:35 And therefore, within the realm of the care of God's people and their life together, and the directives that are found in Scripture concerning how they are to conduct their domestic life, their interpersonal relationships, in every area to which Scripture addresses itself, the servants of God are, in the language of 1 Timothy 4, 11, these things command and teach, or in the language of Titus 2, 15, these things teach with all authority. So, in general, when dealing with the clear teaching of the Word of God, the servants

23:18 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.

24:03 None whatsoever.

24:05 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.

24:40 But they've reached an impasse. They've prayed. They've searched the Scriptures. And now they come to you, believing that with your greater experience in pastoral casuistry, that is, working out practical pastoral problems.

24:54 And with your greater knowledge of the Word of God, you may be able to give them counsel. They do not come from shalt by, and then give the name of the car, the make, and the model, and all the extras. They don't come to you as the oracle. They come to you as a helper of their faith and understanding.

25:18 And so you sit down and say, all right, how have you thought through the issue? What are the principles that you've brought to bear? And then you say, well, have you considered this factor? I didn't consider that.

25:30 And you say, well, let's consider this portion of the Word of God. And you say, well, let's consider this portion of the Word of God. Factor that in. And then you bring in another factor.

25:36 And then they say, oh, those were two or three things I hadn't considered. That materially affects my perspective on it. Now, in the light of all of those things, Pastor, what would your counsel to me be? Are you to be bound and say, well, I dare not give you counsel on a matter concerning the purchase of a car, because that's going to be on Scripture?

25:53 No, I can give counsel. But that's all I'm giving is counsel. My advice would be that you do thus and thus, and here are the reasons. If you leave this room and you end up buying a different kind of car and a different price range, remember, you've not sinned.

26:12 You've not necessarily sinned. I'm only giving you counsel. Now, if an apostle could make the distinction between counsel and divine command, we'd better be able to do it. In 1 Corinthians 7, you have a clear example of that difference.

26:25 Paul is speaking about the desirability or non-desirability of marriage under a present circumstance of great distress. And we don't know what the circumstance is. But he gives his counsel. And he says in verse 36 of 1 Corinthians 7, if any man thinks that he behaves himself unseemly toward his virgin daughter, if she be past the flower of her age, and if need so requireth, let him do what he will.

26:52 He sinneth not. Let them marry. Though he has said, it is my counsel that given the present set of circumstances, it is better not to marry. Better service can be rendered to Christ in the single state.

27:08 I'm only giving counsel. If you go ahead and give your daughter in marriage, you have not sinned. So the limit of our authority when bringing authoritative directives to the people of God must be God speaking in the Scriptures. Certainly at liberty to give counsel in matters where the Scriptures are not explicit, but we must recognize that that's all we are doing is giving counsel.

27:44 And we must never allow our consciences as a people to be bound by mere counsel that involves the judgment of our officers and equate that with a clear unfolding of the authoritative word of the living God. And our own confession, again, recognizes that distinction. And very clearly asserts in the chapter on Christian liberty, chapter 21, paragraph 2, God alone is Lord of the conscience and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments

28:23 of men which are in anything contrary to his word or not contained in it, so that to believe such doctrines or obey such commands out of conscience is to betray true liberty of conscience. And the requiring of an implicit faith and absolute and blind obedience is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also. And some of us in recent days have seen the tragic results when people allow liberty of

28:57 conscience and reason to be destroyed by people who exceed the boundaries of biblical authority. So in general, the limits of the authority of God are the limits of the authority of God. The limits of the authority of your officers is God the speaking in the scriptures. Artist Edwin Lawson in his unprinted early Christian account drove this IPO to besticios ou the 17th century.

29:20 Not only the general principle, but specifically, there are two specific areas in which no elder or group of elders can act with divinely prescribed authority without consent, the suffrage, the worship according to what is in law, the patronage of the authority, and the propensity to serve thedimenc and perluvoülкладburgin . Christ us God is the birth of Christ.

29:47 In theava 바로eत, the Church of Christ, is a body free from wrath andtanic beefery as well as from whiping, disp Χα Calendar andchechia. The Christ sees Christ the One that's bound to Christ and whose glory andGU absorption is the church or in enacting serious discipline on a member within the church. Now listen carefully, dear church members, and you pastors listen carefully. If you ever allow anyone to impose an officer as a congregation without the privilege of prayerfully and carefully assessing that man's life and gifts in the light of the word of God, you've allowed someone to step over the bounds of his legitimate authority. For as we saw in our study of the manner of recognition and reception

30:30 of officers, God has made it plain from Acts 1 and Acts 6, Acts 14, 23, on to the clear implications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that it is the people of God who are to recognize the gifts of Christ. As with discernment they assess the graces and gifts of man in the light of Scripture, for only when they have assessed and discerned in a man the gifts and graces requisite to the office can they believe that he is a gift of Christ and in faith submit to him

31:10 in the Lord. So in the imposition of an officer upon the church, unless the people of God are taken into account, the authority have been exceeded. And then in the serious discipline of a member of the church, and here is where we part company with some of our dear Presbyterian brethren, who will teach that the elders representative of the church have the right to make the final decree of excommunication and simply announce it to the people. And we say we do not see the Scriptures teaching that. We read this morning, tell it to your brother alone. If

31:49 he hear you, you've gained. If not, take two or three more. If they do not, he does not hear them. Tell it to the church. Doesn't say tell it to the Presbyters. Tell it to the church. And if he does not

32:03 hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen and a publican. And in that scandalous situation in 1 Corinthians 5, where the church, there was no question about the validity of the charges. It was common knowledge that this man was living in a relationship that was not a relationship. And he was living in a relationship that was not a relationship that was even abhorrent to the Gentiles. Paul did not say, in the name of Christ, I

32:27 pronounce him excommunicated. He said, no. He said, when you come together in the name of the Lord Jesus and with my spirit, you deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. You cast out the wicked man from among yourselves. Even an apostle could

32:48 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

33:29 preeminence among them received us not. Therefore, if I come, I'll bring to remembrance his works which he doeth, prating against us with wicked words and not concerning us. And if I come to be content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren. And them that would he forbiddeth, notice, and casteth them out of the church. Why in the world did they sit

33:54 by and let him do it? Given such a right to any man, who did not exercise such a right with that incestuous man at Corinth? Could it be that the people in that particular church did not know what the limits of pastoral authority were? They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They were

34:27 ignorant. They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They were ignorant. They

34:28 I don't know. But if anyone in the young people, listen, who will be the fathers and mothers of another generation, if anyone in this place tries to come at a congregational meeting and simply announce that so-and-so has been excommunicated and so-and-so has been publicly marked and suspended and to be treated in the pattern of 2 Thessalonians without any congregational involvement, you rise up on your hind legs and say, we will not as a congregation treat someone as a heathen and a publican when it has not been told to.

35:11 How can we in good conscience treat a man as an unregenerate man if you, our leaders, have not brought forward the facts to persuade our judgment that that is indeed how he ought to be treated? Don't be herded into any kind of activity, but jealously guard. Guard the limits of the authority of those who are over you in the Lord. So what are the limits, then, of the authority of church officers?

35:46 The limits of that authority are, generically, when they speak according to the word of God, you are to hear them and to obey them, for they speak as the messengers of the Lord Jesus. When they give counsel and express their judgment. You are free to disobey them, but if you continue to follow a pattern of rejecting sound counsel, the Bible doesn't have very flattering things to say about you. And a good Proverbs may help to make you a little more amenable to their counsel, but you, brethren, better make plain when you deal with people, and I find I ask them to give it back to me.

36:30 They'll ask something where there's a clear word from God, and you say, this is what God says in this area, you see what your duty is, yes. Another area, now. Judgment. Judgment.

36:39 Here's my counsel. And then I say, now, look, what did I tell you? This and this. Did I say you must do that or you're sinning?

36:45 No. What did I say? You told me this is your counsel, this is your opinion, but if I don't obey it, if I don't take the direction, I've not sinned. I said, good, you've got that clear in your mind.

36:53 You've got the distinction clear. Don't assume your people will make that distinction. And you need to help educate their consciences in the very way you give counsel. But now let me hasten on, having considered the fact that they do have authority, the grounds of their authority.

The Spirit of Authority: Servant, Steward, Shepherd

37:09 The limit of their authority. Now, what is the spirit in which they are to exercise that authority?

37:17 And here I suggest the scripture focuses upon three things. The spirit in which they are to exercise that authority is one, marked by a servant's heart, a steward's conscience, and a shepherd's love. A servant's heart. Here's the well-known passage in Matthew chapter 20.

37:36 A passage which strangely some have brought forward to undermine any concept. Of office bearers having authority. It's amazing how people will bend the scriptures to their own designs and desires.

37:54 The Lord is in the midst of the twelve. Two of them have been asking for a favored place by means of their mother's mouth or the mother's ask on behalf of them. And the Lord speaking to that inner circle of the twelve says, verse 25 of Matthew 20, Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority. Not so shall it be among you, but whosoever would become great among you shall be your servant, and whosoever would be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

38:35 Some say, aha, see, there's to be no authority in the church. Everyone's to be a servant. Nonsense. Did Jesus cease to have all authority in heaven and earth because he said, I am among you as he did serve it?

38:50 Yes or no? With which that authority is exercised. He's talking to apostles. But what he's saying is, you do not exercise your authority as the Gentiles exercise theirs.

39:15 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,

39:52 he did not intend to take from them or divest them of that spiritual power and authority in the government of the church, which he intended. He did not intend to commit unto them as apostles. His design was to declare what that authority was not and how it should not be exercised. A lordly or despotical power it was not to be, nor was it to be exercised by penal laws, courts, and coercive jurisdiction, which was the way of the administration of all power among the Gentiles.

40:26 And if that kind of power and rule in the church, which is for the most part exercised in the world, be not for the Gentiles, be not for the Gentiles, be not for the Gentiles, be not forbidden by our Savior, no man living can tell what is so. For as to meekness, moderation, patience, equity, righteousness, they were more easy to be found in the legal administrations of power among the Gentiles than in those found in many churches. And of course he's referring primarily to the church of Rome at that time. But such a rule is signified unto them the authority whereof from whence it proceedeth was spiritual.

41:01 Its object, the minds and souls of men, and the way of whose administration was to consist in a humble, holy, spiritual application of the word of God or the rules of the gospel unto them. And the end of this rule is merely and solely the edification of the church. Isn't that why Peter said, using the same language, not lording it over God's heritage, not constantly parading your collar and your title,

41:40 but with a heart prepared that you might get them to heaven as much like Christ and to bring as many others with them. That's your commitment. And you do it with a servant's heart. But then you do it with a steward's conscience.

41:59 Titus 1.7 designates the elder as a steward. He says in that passage, the elder as God. God's steward.

42:10 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.

42:33 Remember the illustrations of it in scripture? Luke 16, 1 and 2, you had the unjust steward. The day of reckoning came. The master comes back.

42:42 And asked, Oh, the elder is a steward. He has been entrusted with a responsibility. And therefore, according to 1 Corinthians 4, it is required here among stewards, Paul says, that a man be faithful. That he be faithful and trustworthy with regard to his stewardship.

43:06 And in the context, Paul says, Therefore, it's a very little thing if I be judged of you or of man's judgment. He that judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time come until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. And then shall every man have his praise of God.

43:24 You see, those in office must not only have a servant's heart and be prepared to spend and be spent for the well-being of those over whom God has placed them, but they must have a steward. We will begin to say, But we want God's light unto the gods of the nations.

43:47 The conscience of Moses.

43:52 We want God's light unto the gods of the nations. We will not...

44:00 ...obedience to the rule of Christ in his house.

44:05 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.

44:28 For on one occasion you'll see such elements of selfless tenderness willing to... ...have his own rights and liberties rejected and trampled underfoot for the sake of Christ.

44:41 And then other times he'll be like an enraged lion.

44:47 Someone dare one worse from being regulative in the house of God. He'll be entranced. He'll stand with shame not from the people of God, but from the God. And I will answer you, not in a pop contest, to my people.

45:33 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.

46:00 When a wolf begins or a pack of wolves begin to prowl around the flock, the true shepherd does not run, but he says, there will either be dead wolves or a dead shepherd before there'll be a torn sheep. Love that is willing to lay down its life for the sheep. That's the spirit in which church officers is to exercise their authority. And finally and briefly, the context in which they are to exercise their authority.

The Context of Authority: Personal Conscience and Exemplary Walk

46:33 Two simple things that I want to say. A context, number one, of personal conscience. To obey and believe everything they preach to their people.

46:48 Because ultimately Christ is the great head and Lord in his church. And there is nothing that elders or deacons do in the administration of their office in the way of biblical directives that do not first of all come to them as disciples of Christ. And so the context in which they are to exercise their authority is one of personal submission to the word of God. And then secondly, the context of an exemplary walk before the people of God.

47:19 That's why Peter said, not lording it over God's heritage, but what's the opposite? Giving up all sense of rule and authority and government? No. Not lording it over them.

47:32 Not leading by the carnal methods of the world, but leading from the posture of an exemplary life, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And that example, to the flock, is after he says, the elders among you I exhort, shepherd the flock, bishop the flock,

47:56 examples to the flock. Now again, in our day people are taking that and say, the only leadership we give is leading by example. That's nonsense. That's not true to the scriptures.

48:06 The imperative is shepherd the flock.

48:11 The shepherd to the flock. And all that that involves is we expounded it along five clear biblical lines. But, the disposition is to be one of the servant and the steward and the shepherd's love and the context a life that manifests the power of the things we would inculcate in others so that though we cannot say to the same degree as the apostle we can nonetheless say it in principle be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ the things you have seen and heard and learned in me do. And the God of peace.

48:51 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?

49:26 You know what they're saying? They're saying, descend to the level where we have a bad conscience and we'll feel more comfortable. That's why McShane said a holy man is an awesome instrument in the hands of God. Because the word that he preaches, he can preach with a good conscience and look men in the eyes right back to the retina.

49:49 And they know that he's not a phony. And they feel so much more comfortable when they've got a controversy with God. If only they could sit there and say, aha. But I know this about him.

Conclusion: Guarding Biblical Authority for God's Blessing

50:02 That's why Peter says, making yourselves examples to the flock. So I come around full circle to where I began. If we are under God to know his blessing in days to come, we must be determined to pursue a biblically framed standard for church officers. A standard which addresses not only the name and number of those officers, the gender, the qualifications, the reception and recognition, and their tasks and responsibilities, but the limits, the grounds, the nature of the authority which they exercise within God's house.

50:45 May God grant that we shall be those kinds of leaders, those of us who are in this awesome position of trust. May you as the Lord's people know what the boundaries of our authority are. And should we ever attempt, to exceed them if you find the slightest intimation, go to the proper channels and address the issue. That in this place, it may never be true that any Diotrephes could throw his weight around.

51:18 That there would be a bloodying of the consciences of God's people, making man's opinions equal with God's law. Why do we so jealously guard the biblical doctrine of Christian liberty? Because we are the people of God. Because we believe Christ purchased that liberty for his people.

51:38 May the Lord grant us biblical thinking that is clear, and that we shall be intransigent in our commitment to it. Let us pray. We thank you that you have not left us at the mercy of the whims and the impulses and desires of men, with reference to the governing of your house. We thank you that your word speaks, to us where we are, and we pray that understanding and grace will be given to obey that word.

52:21 Our Father, we think of churches throughout our land, where there is chaos and confusion. Every man doing what is right in his own eyes. There is no assertive biblical leadership. Authority has fallen to the ground, and anarchy reigns.

52:41 Have mercy upon those who have sinned. Have mercy upon those who have sinned. In those places we pray. For surely if a well-ordered church bespeaks the glory of Christ, how his glory is dimmed where churches are in shambles.

52:56 Then, our Father, we pray for those situations where your servants and your people, either through ignorance or through unmortified ambition and carnal desire to take more to themselves than you have assigned, have stepped over the boundaries of the proper exercise of biblical authority. O Lord, we ask that by your word and your spirit you would bring correctives to those situations. We pray for the men who are here seeking to sort out these issues from backgrounds so diverse. O God, have mercy upon us and help us, we pray,

53:36 and grant that in this place, until our Lord Jesus Christ returns, there would be the proper, delicate, biblically exercised authority as warranted by your word. O Lord, seal your word to our hearts and be glorified as we seek to work it out in obedience in our individual and corporate lives. Hear us, dismiss us with your blessing, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.