The Essence Of Biblical Oversight

Introduction to Pastoral Theology Course Structure and Rationale

0:00 Now, since this is the first time some of you have been present for one of my courses, I believe I owe it to you to say just a few words concerning how I approach the subject of pastoral theology as it is structured into the four-year curriculum. Up until now, as I've already intimated, the pastoral theology course has been taught in a three-year, six-unit cycle. However, I'm now committed to a four-year, eight-unit cycle. And if you ask the reasons for teaching the course in this cyclical manner, those reasons are many, not the least of which is the matter of the economy of my own time. I'm able to

0:50 be here for two hours for this course, rather than eight hours a week, and as it is, there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to give those parts of me to everyone that feels they need a part of me, and this would just be tempting God to put myself in that kind of a situation. And furthermore, we feel there is great benefit from being here at the end of the week as a body of Academy students to crystallize afresh what everything else has been all about throughout the week. And hopefully this will encourage you week by week to remember that the watershed of all those other disciplines that are causing you

1:37 mental gyrations and no amount of difficulty at times, the great rationale and end for all of them, is the work of the ministry. And we think there is something significant in the timing of this class, having it as our last academic discipline at the close of each academic week. Now, as far as the reasons for expanding from a six-unit cyclical framework for the class into a four-year, eight-unit cycle, basically the reasons for that are twofold. The maturation of my own thinking over the years since we first started and had a three-year course, and I did not want to expand it to four years simply for

2:25 neatness in the curriculum unless I was convinced I had something worthwhile to say in those lectures. And I believe my own thinking on the ministry and the various facets of it has matured to the place where I could meaningfully fill up two more semesters of lectures. But then the second reason is that the input and ongoing interaction with our graduates has highlighted certain areas of deficiency in the present pastoral theology curriculum. For example, one of the students said to me, he said, Pastor, I've gone back through all my notes and tried to remember even some of the informal pastoral theology homilies

3:11 and exhortations you gave us, and I can't remember if you ever gave us principles dealing with guest speakers. On what basis to invite a man? How much doctrinal affinity must there be to open your pulpit to a man? What arrangements should be made for his care and keeping him while he is among you?

3:33 What scale do you use on the matter of remuneration? What do you do in introducing a man that gives him due honor but doesn't flatter him? I said, well, come to think of it, that is an area that you're going to have to face. I ought to give you some instruction.

3:48 So I have a bunch of little slips in a file called Tentative Units 7 and 8. And over the years, little slips with stuff like that on them have gone into that file until now. The file has a considerable amount of subjects that we may call it miscellaneous concerns and practical matters of the work of the ministry. And then there has been a growing desire that you would not leave this academy without having some of the pivotal passages on the work of the ministry expounded in context and in sequence.

4:24 and I mean such passages as Acts 20, 17 to the end of the chapter, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, the shepherd passages in Ezekiel and in Jeremiah, perhaps the negative passages such as Matthew 23, and it is my purpose under God to have a segment in units 7 and 8 in which those pivotal passages will be expounded so that hopefully you will have those things entering your ears and your hearts in that framework, which is God's primary means of edifying and sanctifying his people, namely the proclamation of the word. Well, so much for the way in which the course is structured and part of the rationale for that arrangement.

Classroom Logistics and Course Overview

5:17 Now I want to say a word about how I will use my two 50-minute class periods. I will not make conscience about breaking the class exactly at 12 o'clock. I will make my first and only break in terms of rhetorical considerations, not chronological considerations. So there may be times when you'll be getting a little seat weary if I feel that the break would better come at an hour or an hour and ten minutes.

5:50 However, I will make conscience of being done at one o'clock. And if there seems to be a desire and the opportunity for some of you to remain for discussion beyond one o'clock, I'm going to stay as long as my schedule permits. but every one of you is free to structure your plans for Friday in such a way that you can assume that at one o'clock I'm not promising I'll stop in the middle you see if the second hand comes up at one o'clock and I'm in the middle of the sentence I'm not promising I'll quit I may conclude the sentence and try to drop the thing down on the deck and reasonably conclude, say, by one or two after at the most.

6:38 But, brethren, I will make conscience of that. I'm glad to hear that the other brethren have, and I certainly would not want in any way to undermine our tighter ship that we're riding in these days. All right, now with these introductory matters behind us, let us begin to take up the subject matter for today. In what I regard as a classic exposition on the book of 1 Peter, John Brown, in expounding the book of 1 Peter, asserts that the entire work of the eldership, particularly those who labor in the word and in teaching, can be subsumed under two major categories.

7:26 First of all, he describes them as teaching and ruling, or in parallel terms, instructing and superintending. And I believe John Brown has caught the heart of the work of the ministry. The work of elders, particularly those who labor in the Word and in doctrine, is a work of teaching and ruling, or of instructing and superintending. Now, since both of these tasks are to be performed in a context of eminent prayerfulness, the three activities which form the major categories of ministerial responsibility are

8:18 teaching, ruling, and praying. Acts 6 and verse 4, we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And this is why, and here you can consult your abstract, you will see that we have three major parts to the present structure of the Course. Part 1, the essential elements of effective pastoral preaching.

8:49 Halfway down the page. Part 2, the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight. And Part 3, the essential elements of effective pastoral prayer. And the reason for that structure is an attempt to distill the biblical concept of the duties and privileges and responsibilities of a shepherd in Christ's flock.

9:17 Now, we begin today on the threshold of unit number 5 to consider the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight. In the left-hand column, you will see that in your abstract, PT5, Part 2, the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight. and toward the end of PT6, God willing next semester, we will take up part three in at least two Fridays, the essential elements of effective pastoral prayer. Now as we begin to take up this major category of effective pastoral oversight, let me apprise you of how we will break it down in order to deal with its various components.

10:08 as you try to look down the road of this semester to see where we will be going. Again, I ask you to consult your abstract. We will begin today with Unit 1, the biblical description of the task in its essence. And that will comprise the entirety of our lecture today, and then, God willing, next week in its disposition.

10:33 Then we begin to take up in Unit 2 this semester the biblical category. of the task. And in the course of doing that, we will touch upon directives for ordering the corporate worship of God, and that will bring us into everything from ordering the stated meetings right down to giving biblical principles and practical counsels on what we would call meetings dictated by our social context, weddings, funerals, etc. So that will give you some idea of where we are going in our studies this semester.

Why Start with the Essence of Oversight?

11:12 And again, I commend to you frequent recourse to that abstract as we make our way so that at any given point you'll know where we've come from and where we're going and where we are in relationship to the whole picture. So much then for general introduction and overview. Now we come this morning to unit one, Roman numeral one, the task of effective pastoral oversight in its essence. in its essence, what is the task of oversight or government or superintendence in the Church of Christ?

11:55 The first thing I want to do is to explain why it is vital to start at this point.

12:04 And I have three reasons as an explanation for why we start at this point. Number one, to challenge and to expose false notions which you may have imbibed along the way. To challenge and to expose false notions which you may have imbibed along the way.

12:31 Each of us has had various circumstances in which we have been exposed to models of what the ministry is all about. We have read books, we have heard sermons, all of which have been feeding into our minds and hearts a conception of what the work of effective pastoral oversight is. And because we are concerned that that perspective be biblical, not romantic or popish, or grow out of a distortion of the biblical ideal, my purpose in starting here is to challenge and to expose any false notions you may have, because this is one of the primary functions of the Word of God.

13:23 You'll remember in the 19th Psalm, where the psalmist is celebrating God's revelation in creation, and then his perfect revelation in his law, one of the things he says concerning the law of God, God's inscripturated revelation, He says in verse 11, Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. It is by the precepts of God that there comes the warning of God, and surely the word of God is full of warnings concerning false shepherds,

14:13 and unbiblical concepts and practices connected with giving spiritual leadership to God's people. On the positive side, we believe, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, that the God-breathed scriptures are sufficient to make the man of God complete unto every good work. And along the way, particularly in our day, many concepts of the work of oversight are rooted in pagan, humanistic perspectives coming from many disciplines, academic and ecclesiastical, that have no relationship to the Word of God. So I trust we will sense that challenge and exposure.

15:01 My second reason is this. To impart a positive, exegetically based standard to which you may aspire. To impart a positive, exegetically based standard to which you may aspire. Psalm 119 and 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

15:34 And in the same psalm I will run in the way of thy commandments. In both of those texts the clear implication is that the way has been marked out by God's precepts before we get into it. And it is there before us to guide us in the expenditure of energy in the journey, either conceived as walking in the path or running in the path of God's commandments. and therefore it is vital in this period in which you are forming your deepest ministerial longings and conceptions that you have a positive exegetically based conception of what the work of oversight is.

16:23 And it is to that standard that you hitch your conscience. That's not a good imagery. Let me change it. It is that standard which is welded to your conscience by the fire of the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

16:40 So that you will never, never have an easy conscience in the ministry if you find your work of oversight done in any other way than that which is rooted in a positive, exegetically based standard of this task. And I remind you of that sobering word of 2 Timothy 2.5 in the context of Paul's charge to Timothy as a servant of Christ. First of all, encouraging him to be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ, 2 Timothy 2.1.

17:17 and then the heart of his ministerial responsibility, the things you've heard from me among many witnesses, commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also, the gutsy realism that lets him know it won't be easy, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, then the warning in the military image, no soldier on service entangles himself in the affairs of his life, In fulfilling his task, he must keep a single mind and undistracted heart. But then verse 5, the imagery now of the games, very much in our minds in an Olympiad year. If a man can tend in the games, he is not crowned.

18:05 He will not stand on the victor's stand simply because he came across the line first. If he has stepped outside the lane, he is disqualified. It's not enough that he's thrown the javelin the farthest. If his toe has gone one half an inch over the foul line, he's disqualified.

18:26 And so he tells Timothy, If a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. It is not enough that we do the work of oversight, and do it diligently, and fervently, and even in the eyes of men successfully. if we have not done it lawfully we shall not be crowned we shall not be crowned and so it is vital that we have this exegetically based standard to which we aspire and then thirdly I want to equip you with a working acquaintance with those perspectives that you will need

19:11 to convey to your people I want to equip you with a working acquaintance with those perspectives which you will need to convey to your people. You see, no little part of pastoral wisdom is that of conditioning your people by your stated regular ministry to think biblically concerning your office and your function as an elder.

19:46 For many of them have picked up the baggage of what they think the ideal reverend ought to be. And even if they no longer call him reverend but pastor and regard all of their elders as shepherds and pastors, they may have come from another church where there was, as in any church, no pure expression of biblical principles, but the mixture of certain elements of people blind spots and temperamental strains that may highlight certain aspects and not willfully and culpably but just in terms of the limitations of imperfectly sanctified men there may be imbalances and distortions Well your people will be a gathering

20:34 of people with all of these different conceptions of how the work of oversight should be done. And no little part of your pastoral wisdom will be to condition your people to think biblically about who you are and how you ought to carry on your tasks. For example, if they have come out of a situation in which oversight simply meant that you are there to preach and regulate the public services, help and give direction to the congregation in a crisis of decision whether to buy a parcel of land or whether to excommunicate a known fornicator, and for the rest of the time you bury the dead and marry the starry-eyed

21:20 and hold hands and give candies to the kiddies and a general good joe. But you never, you never, never aggressively put your hand on the shoulder of a sheep and say, how is it with you on the inside? How is it in your walk with God? Are there peculiar sins that you're struggling with?

21:41 How is your family devotional time? Some people are conditioned to believe that that kind of oversight is oppressive, meddlesome, interfering, heavy-handed, and unliberical. Well, you see, if you're convinced and you have a well-grounded exegetically based conviction that not only is that a possible and a legitimate pastoral style, but it is a mandated, biblically warranted duty, then you will condition your people to think that way, and they will not resent your conduct in that way,

22:28 they will be disappointed that you are less than a biblically acting shepherd if you did anything other than that. So you see, I want to give you this working acquaintance with the perspectives you will need to convey to your people if you are to be an instrument in the hands of God to condition them by your ongoing ministries to think biblically about your identity and the identity of your fellow elders and your function. Well, having addressed the question of why I start at this point, now we take up, secondly, the pivotal passages which describe the essence of the task of oversight.

Pivotal Passage 1: Acts 20:28 - Shepherding God's Flock

23:18 So under its essence, large letter A would have been explanation as to why it is vital to start here and B will be the specific major passages setting forth the essence of the task. And the first one is the text around which Baxter builds his entire treatise, Acts chapter 20 and verse 28.

23:52 Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. And may I say as an aside, one of the other things that David is doing, and we would have had it for today's lecture except that his computer's brain got scrambled and it was shipped out last night, Federal Express, somewhere to the Midwest, to a computer center that unscrambles, scrambled computer brains that somewhere in the 40 megabytes of that part of his computer that he sent out are detailed notes of all of the lectures that he wants to have prepared ahead of time with large spaces between them so that when you take your class notes you can take them right on there having the headings already written out for you.

24:38 So our brother has already begun to render yeoman service. I hope some of you guys leaving us don't get covetous. These guys are going to have it easy, you see.

24:48 All right. All right, Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. I remind you briefly of the setting of the passage when Paul gathers the elders together there at Miletus. In verses 18 to 27, what he does is basically vindicate the integrity of his ministry and describe the essence and manner of his ministry among them.

25:21 So there is vindication, and then there is kind of a sanctified reminiscence of the substance of his ministry. But then, starting in verse 20, He begins to charge these Ephesian elders, I'm sorry, verse 28, he begins to charge these Ephesian elders. There's a total shift now in the emphasis of his discourse. Up until verse 28, it's full of eye.

25:55 and don't immediately judge a man as unspiritual if a certain part of his discourse is full of eye. You read 18 to 27 and it's full of eyes because Paul was the only one who could speak about Paul's inner state and Paul's attitude and disposition in the way of personal testimony and he was not overly modest. He did not use the editorial we. So let's not be more fastidious than a spirit-inspired, humble apostle.

26:29 But now he turns to the elders and begins to lay upon them their duty to this flock of God that came to birth under his labors, among whom he labored for some three years. And he says to them, take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops or overseers to feed or to shepherd the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood. As he moves to exhortation, he comes immediately to the heart of their task, and he says, Pay close attention to yourselves and to all the flock with a view to shepherding the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

27:28 Now notice in the text, the people of God are designated as the poignion. And that's the standard word in the New Testament to describe a flock of sheep. The familiar Christmas story. Shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night.

27:48 Here's the word that you have. The standard word for a flock of sheep. And the task of the elders translated in the 1901 edition, feed, and it's one of the few places where I have to say this is a crass, poor translation of the verb. It is the verb, form of sheep, and it is poimino, and here we have a present participle, poimine.

28:22 So, the people of God are a flock of sheep, and the task of elders is that of taking the position of and administering the functions of a shepherd. when he speaks of the church as a flock and says to elders shepherd that flock what he is saying is assume the position and administer the functions of a shepherd to a flock of sheep so the rendering feed is both inaccurate and altogether too restrictive is the job of a shepherd done when he simply leaves the sheep into green pastures?

29:13 No. And the child acquainted with Psalm 23 has at hand a ready answer to any concept of shepherding that stops with merely feeding. And therefore any concept of a ministry that stops with merely feeding by public teaching and preaching, However accurate, however biblical, however anointed by the Spirit, is an utterly deficient view of the work of the minister. No, the shepherd does more than feed.

29:48 In the language of Psalm 23, he leads into places of rest and refreshment. He is protector of the sheep. He is physician to the sheep. He is guide to the sheep.

30:04 He is all of these things to the sheep, and among them, yes, he does lead into green pastures and besides still waters, but that is only one of his functions. Now, according to the text, the work of shepherding is not performed from the position of an ordinary Christian, but from the position of the authority of office. Notice how he underscores this. Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops to feed or to shepherd.

30:47 It is as bishops that you shepherd. It is as episcopoi, lookerovers, in the official position of bishops or overseers, that you perform the functions of a shepherd. and this word is a technical word used as a synonym for elder it is clear from the context for we read in verse 17 that he called to him the presbyteroi the elders of the church and he says of these elders that they are the episcopoi they are the bishops

31:34 or the looker-overs of the flock and then of course you know how those terms are used interchangeably in Titus 1 verse 5 and verse 7 and then in Philippians 1 in verse 1 they are used to describe the elders along with the deacons who constituted the office bearers in the church at Philippi. Now, when we put these lines of thought together, what do we have as to the essence of the task of oversight? Here we have a charge which says that the task of a pastor is a task of paying close attention to all of the people of God under his care,

32:25 with a view to fulfilling the functions of a shepherd to them in the consciousness of his appointment to this task and office by the sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit. Now do you see how all of that is condensed in his words? Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to perform the functions and responsibilities of a shepherd to the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. I run it by you again.

33:10 It is a charge which says that the task of a pastor is the task of paying close attention to all the people of God, take heed to all of the flock, all of the people of God, under His care, with a view to fulfilling the functions of a shepherd to them,

33:38 shepherd the flock of God, in the consciousness of His appointment to this office and task, by the sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit.

33:56 Now, how the Holy Spirit acts in that appointment, that's another thing going into units 7 and 8. I've never dealt in the pastoral theology with the question, the call to the ministry. Most of you have come through the sieve of hearing the six series of tapes that apparently has driven more men out of the ministry than put men in. But I believe the subject belongs in our pastoral theology course.

34:19 That's going to go in. But suffice it to say for now, Paul assumes that whatever part he and others may have had in the appointment of elders, and remember the emphasis of Acts 14.23, falls upon the human activity. And they appointed for them elders in every church.

34:36 There's the emphasis upon the human instrumentality. but ultimately, when he's charging these elders, he wants them to think of their position in terms of this sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit, who has called them into this task and placed them into this office. Now, the obvious parallel passage, and this is still under Acts 20, I'm only bringing in this other passage as a supportive passage, is 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.

35:17 And may I say, brethren, this is why, among many other reasons, you will not hear much around here of Petrine theology and Pauline theology and Joannine theology. We don't like that terminology. There is biblical and systematic theology. but this idea that we've got Pauline and Petrine and the rest we don't have much sympathy for that and here's a case where you see such parallel perspectives that you know there is one author indicting and clearly moving the minds of the apostles in treating the subject 1 Peter 5 very clearly the whole subject before us is Peter's subject

36:02 The elders, therefore, among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, to am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint but willingly, according to the will of God, nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is lording it over the charge, allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. Now we have an aorist imperative of that same verb, poimino. And the elders are to shepherd the poimion, once again, the

36:53 flock of God. You have that same conjunction of the noun describing God's people as a flock, and the verb for the task of the elder to perform the functions of a shepherd. Now, I'm aware that the words exercising the oversight among you are a key reading in your UBS text. However, in looking at the apparatus, I cannot help but find my judgment falling in with that of Lenski on this point, so I will quote him on page 218 of his Expositions of 1 Peter.

37:36 Some texts omit episcopuntis, exercising the oversight, but it is singularly appropriate especially also for introducing all the following adverbial modifiers. This participle introduces the other designation for elders, namely episcopoi, overseers. Overseeing is often taken to be an activity that is different from shepherding, poimonata. As if the latter were the preaching and the teaching and the overseeing the practical management.

38:14 Some sheep congregations even want to do the latter themselves. The pastor is only to conduct the services. Strange sheep. Both terms have the same meaning.

38:28 The figurative shepherd the flock is explained by the literal overseeing or looking over the flock. To oversee is to shepherd, and to shepherd is to oversee. And that's the end of the quote from Lensky, and I believe he's caught the heart of what the apostle is saying, and it perfectly dovetails with Paul's directive to the elders there at Ephesus, where these elders to whom Peter writes are to conceive of God's people as a flock, and they're tasked as one of exercising the functions of a shepherd to the flock in the full complexity of what that involves,

39:13 And in so doing, they are bishoping, they are overseeing that flock with the proper motives and perspectives and demeanor as Peter outlines it. and then they have that great hope burning in their hearts and ever before their spiritual eye. And when the archipoimen, when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away.

39:47 Well, I don't want to get carried off on that aspect, but that is the wonderful hope that he sets before them. and then if you want to tack on one other supportive passage to the emphasis of Acts 20.28, which is our first strategic passage, I would add Ephesians 4.11 and 12, where the risen Christ is said to give to his church pastors and teachers.

40:13 And if you have any question about the joining of pastors and teachers to describe one distinct gift. I commend to you Hendrickson's commentary on Ephesians, page 197, particularly the footnote on the grammatical construction of that passage, and I think it is convincing, and most exegetes are of the same mind. Just suffice it to say that in the Ephesians 4 passage the emphasis falls upon the activity of Christ He gives them their actual function is to shepherd and to shepherd as teachers showing again that in this shepherding they are armed with the word of God

41:02 and then the actual envious view is the perfecting or literally the mending of the saints unto the work of service, that verb being used to describe the activity of the apostles when our Lord found them by the seashore mending their necks. And we shepherds and teachers are given for the mending of the saints. And my friends, all the needle and thread is not there in the post. A lot of it has to be taken in your pocket into their homes and one-on-one.

41:32 you've got to sew them up. And sometimes you've got to lance boils before you can sew them up. And sometimes you've got to scrape out pus sacks. And they'll holler and they'll scream.

41:44 But you're there for their well-being and for their mending and for their healing. Well, that's the first pivotal passage. Describing the essence of the task and any conception of the task of oversight that does not derive its leading lines from the Acts 20, 28 passage is doomed at some point either to be distorted or pitifully deficient. All right, the second leading line of thought is 1 Timothy 3 and verse 5.

Pivotal Passage 2: 1 Timothy 3:5 - Taking Care of God's Church

42:19 I spent most of my time, I'll be briefer in the exposition of these other passages, on the Acts 20 because I believe it stands, as it were, head and shoulders over all the others. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 5.

42:34 Here you remember we have the apostolic directive to Timothy concerning the standard of grace and conduct and gift that must be present if men are to be recognized for the office of an elder. 1 Timothy 3. Faithful is the saying, if a man seeks the office of an overseer, A bishop, he desires a good work. The bishop, the overseer, the elder, the shepherd, the pastor, must be without reproach.

43:09 And then the specifics of what without reproach means are given, some of them, in verse 2 and verse 3. But now we come to verses 4 and 5. One that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. But if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

43:40 Here the Apostle describes the task, the full ord's conception of the function of a bishop, of an elder, of a pastor, as one of taking care of the church of God. not thundering some truths into its ears weekly or gently distilling the consolations of the gospel in their ears weekly. No, no, it's a much broader conception. It is a task of taking care of the church of God.

44:21 And here you have the verb epimelomai and it has one other usage in the New Testament.

44:30 And as you men have learned in your studies and will learn, and I hope by example, Scripture is its own infallible interpreter and wherever the Holy Ghost has used a given word in other places, often the clue to its true understanding is to be found not by running first to the lexicons, but first to your concordances. That's the rule around here. Concordances first. Lexicon second.

44:57 Lexicographers are not inspired, nor are they without theological and exegetical prejudice. Only the Holy Ghost who spoke in words which he chose is infallible. So when you have an accurate concordance, see how the Holy Ghost used the words that he himself dictated. In brackets.

45:22 You know when we say that, it's tongue-in-cheek. indicted. We know that they are his very words. He used men as men. He didn't make them robots.

45:32 He didn't make them computers. But the end result is just the same as if he had.

45:38 Just the same as if he had. But he honored the creature that he made in the manner in which he gave us the word. But whenever people press you on this matter, say, no, we don't hold to a dictation theory of inspiration. However, we hold to a view that the Bible forces upon us that the accuracy to the very words, jot and tittle, is equal to that as if God had dictated or God had made the man mere machines and took them up in ecstasy and utterly controlled all of their faculties without any input of their humanity.

46:13 It is as much His word. And we confess that I trust without reservation. Well, don't want to get sidetracked on our view of inspiration, but chapter 10 of Luke. This is the rationale behind turning you to the passage, verses 34 and 35.

46:30 In the very familiar story of the Good Samaritan, you remember what happened. This poor fellow was beat up, to use common parlance, he was gang mud. and he was left in a sorry state. He was left half dead.

46:50 I've often puzzled at that. What's half dead?

46:54 But anyway, that's what the text says. And you remember, certain men came by and showed no concern for him. But verse 33, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out two shillings and gave them to the host and said, Take care of him, and whatsoever you spend more, I, when I come back again, will repay you.

47:34 Take care of him. Now what was he saying to the innkeeper? He was saying to the innkeeper, assuming him to be a mature man, to be a sensitive, observant man, and he was saying, observe all of the areas of his need and respond to them in a corresponding and an appropriate manner, and anything that that costs you, I will repay. bound up in that word take care, are all of these concepts of awareness of the totality of his need, and a knowledge and an ability to respond in a manner suited to those needs.

48:21 He didn't give him a detailed list and say, here's the checklist, go through it once a day with this poor chap. he did what he could to give him first aid but then he handed him over to this man and said now you observe all the other areas of need until he is able to make it on his own he is healthy, well and is a discharged patient well that in some way cast its light back upon the significance of how Paul conceives the essence of the task of an elder What is the essence of that task? It is the task of taking care of the church of God. Taking care of the church of God. God has not given us a long checklist of 179 different things that are involved in checking the sheep out and the family of God out.

49:23 He assumes that we are men of sufficient maturity and of sufficient compassion for people, that we will be aware of their needs and be sensitive to those needs and upon recognition of those needs have the moral courage, have the dimensions of love and compassion, and be well furnished with the necessary knowledge and skills to impart that knowledge to give our sheep all that they need to be healthy sheep. That's taking care of the church of God. Now that's the essence, you see, of the work of oversight. And frankly, this is why I find it utterly ridiculous

50:08 when people want to set limits upon the dimensions of our sheep's lives which become a matter of our legitimate concern.

50:20 All that they are as sheep is to be a matter of my concern. Now there are certain areas where I have no right to meddle and to interfere and to be nosy. That's understood. But surely there is no area that is out of bounds for me to be competent, to give counsel where it is sought, and other areas where whether it is sought or not, love will demand that I step in in the aggressiveness of holy love and seek to deal with the sheep.

50:57 You may have to, as I have had to even this week,

51:03 give a couple on their honeymoon, unable to consummate their relationship, having problems because of double virginity, play the role of a doctor and help them get the violin and the bow together over the phone as they call you from the honeymoon. I think what a wonderful compliment. One honeymoon cuckoo can call the pastor and his wife and say, can you help us?

51:29 A privilege.

51:32 What a privilege. Is it their duty for the two to become one flected? Well, yes. Is it their desire?

51:38 Yes. and if they're having a problem with it should they go to some pagan secular sex therapy clinic or to some manual in a local library call the pastor and their wife and his wife and say we need some help that's what I'm talking about have the kind of relationship where everything that comes within the orbit of biblical duty and responsibility with reference to the sheep is an area of the concern of the father in the family. How shall he take care of the church, viewed in this context, obviously, as the larger family of God? If a man know not how to rule

52:24 well his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? It is God's church, not mine. You want to have my flesh cringed? You talk about Mike Brackett's church in Paradise or Al Martin's church in Montville.

52:44 I'll chew your ear off. Cut your tongue off to say that. No, it's the church of the Lord. Now, if you want to say the church where our brother Mike Brackett labors, and you notice that's the terminology I use.

52:58 The church where our brother Dean Allen labors in the gospel. That's not wrong to identify a leading figure of leadership with a given church. They don't want to get so fastidious that we get beyond good sense. But don't ever call it so-and-so's church.

53:19 It reflects a defective mentality. Paul is very careful to call it the church of the Lord which he purchased with his blood. It is called God's church. So that's the second text that sets forth the essence of the task.

Pivotal Passage 3: 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Timothy 5:17, Romans 12:8 - Ruling and Governing

53:36 We are not only to perform the functions of shepherd to sheep, but we are to perform the function of the head of a household, caring for all the members of the family in the full spectrum of what is involved in that caring, being aware of their needs and seeking to take appropriate measures to minister to those needs. we pick up now as we continue you want to just glance again at your abstract those of you who perhaps are new to us and not quite as comfortable with how we're going about things we're dealing with the biblical description of the task of oversight in its essence

54:22 and thus far I have opened up Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 and two supportive passages showing the essence of the task to be that of a man by the appointment of the Holy Spirit, assuming the position and discharging the functions of a shepherd to a flock of sheep. And then 1 Timothy 3.5, where the imagery is changed, it is that of the head of a household caring for all those within his household and what that implies. Now we come to the third set of texts, and the third major concept concerning the essence of the task, and that's found in 1 Thessalonians 5.12, 1 Timothy 5.17, and Romans 12.8.

55:18 Now I group these passages together because in each of them the key to the work is a verb of the same family, though in varying forms, and it is the verb pro-isthemi. Pro-isthemi. Now in 1 Thessalonians 5.12, the translation of our 1901 and other English translations is, in this directive to the people of God with reference to those who are over them in the Lord, we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you

56:05 and are over you in the Lord. Perhaps a better translation would be those who are ruling or governing you in the Lord.

56:21 And that's the way it is translated. in 1 Timothy 5.17. The elders that rule well are worthy of special honor. And so the verb is translated rule. And likewise in Romans 12 and verse 8, though the emphasis there falls upon the manner of ruling, there is a function of rule in which this verb is used. He that exhorts to his exhortation. He that gives, let him do it with liberality. He that rules. It doesn't say he that is over you, as it is translated in 1 Thessalonians 5, but he that rules is to do it with diligence.

57:12 Now the same word is used in 1 Timothy 3, 4 regarding the rule or the government of a household. in verse 4 if a man rules not well his own household how shall he epimelomai take care of the church of God so we must be careful when people would set up an antithesis between the rule in a man's house and the taking care of the church as though it were something weaker because the very word for ruling the household is applied directly to the office and function of an elder in these other passages. So this is where, again, you see a little Greek sometimes is dangerous,

58:00 more dangerous than no Greek. And you'll see people say, well, a man rules his own house. He has a more direct, intimate involvement there, but he only takes care of the church, as though that's weaker. Well, you see, my argument is, no, it is not weaker, because that very word rule is found in conjunction with the office and task of elder in 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 Timothy 5, and most all exegetes agree that in Romans 12 there is a reference there to the ruling office of an elder or an overseer.

58:38 So this brings within its orbit all that it means to have an efficient ordering of a large household. awareness of the wide spectrum of needs, some parallels with the taking care, understanding how best to meet the needs, which is always the scriptural way of meeting the needs, but having that heavenly wisdom. Wisdom being the ability to use the best means to attain righteous ends. That's wisdom.

59:19 Not only knowing a right end, but being able to choose the most righteous, appropriate means to attain that righteous end. The steps to implement these means, the ability to provide stability in a period of crisis, the anticipation of future needs, having goals for the household and its development, and practical steps to attain them. And you see, we could go on and almost spin out a whole series of studies on what is involved in some of these generic concepts of ruling that takes its clue from the concept of household rule and government.

60:05 And that's why Paul ties them together. And the longer I live and observe both efficiency and deficiency in the work of the ministry, the more I'm convinced of the wisdom of God in linking those things together in 1 Timothy 3 and underscoring that requirement above all others. I never doubted it was right. But time has shown me again and again the wisdom of God in emphasizing that.

60:35 And almost invariably when I've observed patterns of deficiency in pastoral oversight and in the general work of caring for God's sheep, one can see in the case of a married man, there are those same deficiencies in seed form in his rule of his own household. And they are simply augmented in the rule and the care of the larger household. And so brethren this is why as you heard in your orientation and you reminded again and again we underscore tolerate no deficiencies in your household rule and government Do not accept as inevitable certain aspects of

61:23 irregularity and tension and friction. What you indulge now in your own domestic sphere will come back to haunt you in the ecclesiastical in years to come. And who will suffer? Christ sheep, God's household, and ultimately God's glory will be tarnished, because he has constituted the church to be the theater in which he displays his glory both to principalities and powers in the heavenly places, Ephesians 3.10, and then even to the world. We are the city set on the hill.

Pivotal Passage 4: Hebrews 13:7, 17, 24 - Rule and Accountability

62:01 All right, then there's a fourth grouping. We have shepherding, caring, or making provision for managing as a household. Now Hebrews 13, 7, 17, and 24. These passages I'm sure are familiar to all of you.

62:23 Here the overseers, the spiritual leaders, are described consistently in this way. Remember them, verse 7, that had the rule over you, men that spoke unto you the word of God and considering the issue of their life imitate their faith. Verse 17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them for they watch in behalf of your souls as they that shall give account that they may do this with joy and not with grief for this were unprofitable for you. Verse 24 Salute or greet warmly All them that have the rule over you, and all the saints.

63:12 Now in these passages, the common denominator is a form of the verb hegeomai. That verb, which is universally translated in the New Testament, has rule, or to rule, or to govern. And in its noun form, it is the governor or the ruler. Matthew 2.6 and Acts 7.10 are the verb forms.

63:44 Matthew 10.18, 27.2, 1 Peter 2.14, governors, the noun form.

63:53 so by universal usage in the New Testament Hegeomai points us in the direction of rule or government and in these three texts in Ephesians 13 you have as it were the spotlight on a different aspect of that rule in each one of the texts and so it is not my purpose exhaustedly to expound each of the texts, but to point at the spot where the floodlight falls. In verse 7, the emphasis falls upon the means of exercising rule, which was the Word of God taught in the context

64:40 of a holy life. Do you see that? Remember them that had the rule over you. They are described as those who exercised rule only incidentally to the main point of the exhortation, which is to remember them. And who are the them? Those that had the rule over you, your past elders.

65:03 But you are to remember them in the light of what? They were men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the issue of their life or manner of life imitate their faith. The spotlight falls upon the means of exercising their rule, which was speaking the word of God, but speaking it from the context of an exemplary holy life. A life worthy of being imitated.

65:38 So what is the essence of the task of oversight according to this passage? It is to exercise a rule by means of the standard of the Word of God, so that in the public and private, the corporate, the individual dimensions of effective pastoral oversight, the Word of God regulates the entirety of the task. We are not exegetical and biblical and theological in our public teaching and preaching and then humanistic and psychologically oriented in our private ministry.

66:23 Publicly and privately it is the word of God that we speak. We are not exegetes and theologians in public teaching and humanistic psychologists in private teaching. We are ministers of the Word in every dimension of the exercise of our rule. We do not govern the worship by the regulative principle, but then govern our discipline by some other principle.

66:53 We speak the Word of God in the totality of our rule, and we are speaking it out of the context of an exemplary and a holy life. to speak it out of any other context is in great measure to neutralize its impact because men will eventually, though God will sovereignly bless His Word through the worst of instruments, but generally speaking, men will become cynical or worse yet, walk in the path of hypocrisy manifested in their spiritual leaders. But then in verse 24, I want to skip over verse 17 for now. The emphasis there falls upon the context in which we exercise our rule

67:44 as far as the relationship to those whom we rule.

67:51 Warmly greet all them that have the rule over you. What is assumed in that exhortation? That the context of that rule is one of mutual goodwill. There is no sense of an adversarial relationship.

68:09 You do not warmly greet your adversary.

68:15 You keep him at a distance. And if you greet him at all, it's with a grudging, clenched teeth, muttered hello. But here he says, warmly greet all them that have the rule over you. The assumption being that there is a context of non-threatening, loving, mutual, intimate goodwill between the rulers and those whom they belong.

68:41 Now one of the problems you men will face is the assumption in our day that if a church is marked by close, intimate, authoritative, biblically framed, biblically based, spirit-filled pile up the words that you want oversight there must of necessity be a climate that is oppressive adversarial and threatening now you'll be told that as many in our day seek to say that that of necessity must be so well I hope you know it's not so not only because you know your Bibles,

69:27 but because you've lived at least for four years in a context where you've proved it just ain't so.

69:36 That it can be a relationship of deep love, mutual respect, and goodwill. And so the emphasis falls on that passage, but, you see, he doesn't describe them in another way. The context of goodwill does not neutralize the fact that they are the ones who have the rule over you. You see, the goodwill does not so develop that it ceases to recognize there is valid rule.

70:06 Love does not so spread itself over the relationship that the concept of rule and being ruled, governor and the governed, is obliterated. But as in a healthy home, you might go for a whole week and never think about it. I would be willing some of you that have healthy marriages you're either good bluffs and your wives are joining with you they're sort of suppliers with you in your deliberate deception or some of you got pretty healthy marriages at least if I have any basis of assessing things and I'd love to do a little survey and ask some of your wives how long has it been since you consciously sat down and thought my husband is my head and I must be submissive to him some of your wives would say I ain't thought of that for weeks and yet that's reality

70:54 you are her head and she is insubmissive to you but the context is one of such mutual acceptance and goodwill you don't even think about it it's non-threatening well that's true in a healthy church as well alright and then in verse 17 the emphasis falls here upon the nature and the ultimate issue of the rule what is the nature of the rule they watch on behalf of your souls. Notice, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them, for, for, they watch in behalf of your souls.

71:36 There is the nature of their rule. It is a rule that is focused upon watching on behalf of your souls. Watching unto wakefulness and weariness on the behalf of the well-being of your souls. They are committed to seeing you brought safely to heaven and brought there in as good a shape as the grace of God can secure.

72:03 That's what they're committed to. They watch on behalf of your souls and notice, they watch in the light of the day of judgment. They watch as they that shall give account. in other words they watch for your souls with all of the compassion and care and concern for your well-being in a context of mutual love and respect but at the end of the day they watch and exercise the fruit of that watch with their eye fixed upon the final day when they shall have the approbation or the frown of their Lord now you see there's the balancing dimension in the intimacy the warmth

72:50 the love it never degenerates into an unprincipled saccharine wishy-washy kind of relationship because the eye of the ruler is always upon the day when he shall give an account he shall give an account and it is this very thing that at times when everything in the temperament of those who rule would draw back from lancing a wound, from laying a severe rebuke where necessary, or on the other hand, when through sheer emotional weariness you feel there's just not one more bit of comfort that can be squeezed out. My own soul just seems utterly spent. What is the thing that will drive you

73:36 to seek to minister to that sheep that needs encouragement and comfort and gentle prodding? It's the fact that I shall give an account. I shall give an account. I shall give an account.

73:48 I shall give an account. And I'll not give an account to the ecclesiastical bigwigs of the denominational headquarters. And I'm not going to give an account to my instructors in the academy. I'm not going to give an account ultimately to my fellow elders.

74:01 And certainly not to the congregation. I'm going to give an account to my God in the last day. and so the essence of the task according to the emphasis of these Hegeomai passages is that we are in a place of rule and of government in the church and that then tells us immediately as you get from a differing perspective in a much more thorough way in your ecclesiology course in systematics the Bible nowhere teaches the concept of congregational government, that the sheep shepherd themselves, that the body politic governs itself, that the household runs itself. It utterly, utterly neutralizes

74:53 all of these dominant concepts in which the essence of the task is set before us under these various figures. And I'm personally convinced and made previous allusion to the fact that this watching for the souls is part of the watchman motif that is found in Paul's writings that has its tap roots in Ezekiel 33 in the charge of God to the prophet Ezekiel where he is established as a watchman to the house of Israel. And the thing that God emphasizes there is the necessity of faithfulness in that capacity as a watchman because of accountability. If you warn and they do not take heed,

75:41 you've delivered your soul. His blood will be required at his hand. But if you do not warn and he dies, he shall die in his sin, for his sin, but his blood will I require at your hand. The whole concept of accountability is very graphically and powerfully depicted there in Ezekiel chapter 33.

Summary of the Essence of Oversight and Comfort in Christ

76:03 So I lay before you then, brethren, that the essence of the task of oversight is to be understood in terms of these fundamental biblical categories, words, perspectives, family of words, as we approach this weighty theme, the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight, These texts must be uppermost in our minds. We are to perform the function of shepherds to the sheep. Acts 20.20 with supportive light from 1 Peter 5 in Ephesians 4.11 and 12.

76:45 Then 1 Peter 3.5, we are to take care of the church of God. Then the family of Proistemi, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Romans 12, we are placed over them, placed over them as the head of a household is placed over his household to provide and care for them. and then Hebrews 13, we are rulers over the people of God, exercising a rule by means of the Word of God from the context of a holy life, in a context and relationship of mutual goodwill, and we are doing this as those who are watching for their souls in the light of the day of judgment.

77:37 and our great comfort and this will sort of set the framework and tone for our next lecture is that in this task I find tremendous consolation in the fact that Christ is called in two passages the chief shepherd, the archipoimen and he's called the great shepherd, the mega shepherd chief shepherd is 1 Peter 5 4 and when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. The emphasis again, you see, falling upon, keeping our eye upon that day when the chief shepherd who purchased the sheep with his own blood, something he has not asked

78:25 me to do, but the same sheep that he purchased with his blood are those for whom I am willing to spend and be spent in all of this rich biblical diversity of function and ministry. And as by the grace of God I fulfill my task, I do so anticipating that when the chief shepherd appears, humble foot soldiers, pastors in the trenches, to use the imagery that we read Wednesday night from the flyer from Jim Hogg's forthcoming conference. Men who stand on the boilerplate, shoveling coal,

79:06 of whom this world is not worthy, the chief shepherd shall give them the crown of glory that fades not away. And I tell you, brethren, over the long haul, and remember, I'm not talking now of some cheap jack evangelist that drops down for a week and runs. Twenty-five years, I've slogged it out in one place.

79:25 And there are few things when weariness, and when problems arise and when perhaps worst trial of all when you feel your voice is no longer heard by the people you love.

79:40 You've become unto them as Ezekiel was like a well-played instrument. They love to hear but they do not. What is it that keeps you going? Keeps you from getting sour and bitter and caustic?

79:54 Well, one of the major things is to remember the chief shepherd shall appear. And if I continue by His grace to do what He's told me to do, to have His words well done, will more than compensate for any price I'm paying now. And then you have the emphasis upon Him as the great shepherd, Hebrews 13, 20, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep. He is the chief and He is the great shepherd.

80:31 And as we think of our task, we look to Him as the perfect model of what it is to shepherd the sheep. But we also look to Him as the one who will vindicate us in the last day if we are faithful. We look to Him as the one whose grace is sufficient for us, who can give us of His Holy Spirit all that we need of love, wisdom, patience, moral courage, and a host of other graces if we are to fulfill this awesome task for His glory and for the good of His people. Well, this is at least an effort to set before you a biblical description of the task in its essence.

81:14 and I plead with you men to make these things matters of meditation at appropriate times and never, never allow yourself to stand or kneel at the front of a church and have hands laid upon you and install you into this awesome office unless you're prepared by the grace of God to be these things to your people because that's what the Bible says the function is in its essence and we are not at liberty to change the job description.

81:48 God's given it, and there it stands.