Show Notes
Titus 1:5
Pastor Stephen Lauer
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Jesus, you are our shepherd, King.
[00:00:03] You have gathered us to yourself.
[00:00:07] And even as you reign over us, your people, like a shepherd, you care for us.
[00:00:14] And we confess that we are sheep that have need of your reign.
[00:00:22] We stray, our hearts wander. We need you by your rod and staff, not only to comfort us, but to, like a king, bring us back to yourself, to quell the rebellion of our hearts.
[00:00:39] We need you to protect and defend us from evil, from deception, from without, and even from within our own hearts.
[00:00:47] We need you to protect us from temptation.
[00:00:52] Our hearts are wounded sometimes, O Lord, because of our own sin and our own foolishness, and other times because of what others do to us.
[00:01:02] Lord Jesus, bind up our hearts.
[00:01:06] We are sick.
[00:01:08] Heal us.
[00:01:11] We need you.
[00:01:12] We thank you that you promised to give us exactly what we need.
[00:01:18] And we know that what we need is you.
[00:01:22] So feed us as we trust in you. Feed us by your word and through the power of your spirit that we might have all that we need.
[00:01:31] We have opened our mouths wide.
[00:01:33] Fill them as you promised to do. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.
[00:01:40] We read God's word. Now our sermon. Text From Titus, chapter 1.
[00:01:45] Reading verse 5. Hear God's word.
[00:01:48] Titus 1:5. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. Please be seated.
[00:02:04] Well, how would you like one morning to wake up and find out that you did not owe any taxes?
[00:02:12] No more paying of taxes.
[00:02:15] Taxes are all done. Sounds lovely, huh? I think a lot of us give up maybe a third of our paycheck, right, to taxes. And then we go out to spend our money and there's more taxes, sales taxes, all sorts of things, right? Taxes, taxes everywhere. Boy, it'd be nice if we didn't have to pay any taxes.
[00:02:36] But would it really?
[00:02:38] Would it really be nice to not pay any. Any taxes? What happens if nobody pays any taxes?
[00:02:48] It means there's no fire department to come and put out the fire on your house, your neighbor's house. It means that when there's trouble, there's no police to come and arrest the bad guys and put them in jail.
[00:03:03] It means there's no government to pass laws and to keep order.
[00:03:11] No, you really don't want a society and a life where there are no taxes? Because it means a society and a life where there is no government to punish evil doers and to promote good in society. No, we need government.
[00:03:25] And most of us, no matter how much we complain. And here in America, we kind of have an allergy to authority in government, right? We tend to break out in rashes and hives. And, you know, just think about the last few years. Every, every so often there's riots and trouble and it's happening again, right? We have this kind of societal allergic reaction to authority and problems with it. But fundamentally, when. When government is working the way it's supposed to, not when there's problems with it, when it's working the way it's supposed to, it's a good thing that God has given us in society.
[00:03:58] And even as God has done that for society generally and nations around the world, and all throughout history, there have been governments to keep the evildoers in check and to maintain order so that we can live our lives quietly and peacefully. King Jesus has appointed a government in his church.
[00:04:16] The church is a kind of society. It's a gathering of people together. And we need a government, too. And our King Jesus has given us one.
[00:04:26] We began looking at this government that Christ had appointed in the church last week when we looked at how he's appointed pastors and ministers in his church.
[00:04:37] We're going to keep looking at that organization, that government that Paul told Titus to appoint in every city the elders.
[00:04:46] You remember Titus mission? Paul had gone with Titus. They went, they preached the gospel, they gathered disciples together. And Paul said, okay, I got to go, Titus, you finished the job.
[00:04:57] Finish training the new disciples, getting rid of the paganism that they've been brought up in and training them to be Christians, and then take some of them and train them to be elders and organize the congregations under the leadership of elders.
[00:05:15] And we've commented that this is a continuous institution that Christ has left in the church. Paul wasn't acting on his own, but he was acting in Christ's name. In other words, Jesus said, I want there to be elders in my churches until I come again.
[00:05:33] This week we want to continue looking at this. We looked at pastors last week. This week we're going to continue looking at this command to appoint elders in every church.
[00:05:42] And we're going to look at a second kind of elder in our churches. We have pastors like Pastor Schelcke and myself, who preach every week and do various things. But then we also have what we call ruling elders, a second kind of elder.
[00:06:00] We're going to look at this verse in some detail and look at the biblical teaching that informs this verse to draw out the idea of the ruling elder.
[00:06:13] We commented that here in Titus chapter one, there's two words that are used interchangeably to Refer to these rulers, these guys.
[00:06:24] The first word is in our verse here, verse five, to appoint elders. So there's elders. But then a couple verses down in verse seven, it calls the elders overseers.
[00:06:35] Elder and overseer. The words are used interchangeably.
[00:06:40] These were the men who were to be that government, that organization and leadership for each congregation.
[00:06:48] We explained that this word elder is used in the New Testament to refer to a group or a class of officers. It included the apostles who were temporary officers. We don't have apostles anymore. It included the pastors we looked at last week. And now we're going to explain and look at the. This includes guys who we might call church governors or ruling elders, men who don't preach and teach and aren't apostles, but still serve as rulers in the church.
[00:07:23] Now, we commented, we've explained a couple times that this word elder, as it's picked up in the New Testament, it's used without any explanation. As you're reading in the book of Acts, Paul and and Barnabas go out and they preach the Gospel. They plant churches. And then we read all of a sudden that they appointed elders in every church.
[00:07:43] And we said, they're able to use this word. The New Testament uses this word because it assumes that you've read your Old Testament and you know about the appointment of elders as the office of ruler in the Old Testament.
[00:07:58] So let's consider that briefly this Old Testament background to the elders in general, and especially to this guy called the ruling elder or the church governor. The elders were appointed under Moses direction. You can read about it in. Here you go. If you're taking notes in Exodus 18, in Deuteronomy 1, where Moses reflects back and remembers and explains again the appointment of elders as it happened in Exodus 18, Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 1, and then also in Numbers 11. All three of these are key passages dealing with the appointment of elders in the church to assist Moses and the priests in governing the people.
[00:08:44] These men were elders who didn't teach, but who focused on ruling or shepherding the people.
[00:08:53] We find as we read through the rest of the five books of Moses, the rest of the Law, and then the rest of the Old Testament, that this is exactly how it functioned. The priests and Levites who were the teachers or pastors of the people, joined with these other elders in ruling the people together.
[00:09:13] For example, in 2nd Chronicles 19:8, the king Jehoshaphat is getting rid of idolatry. He's reforming and sort of refreshing the church, getting things back in order so that God's People would worship him the right way and know the truth. He says in we read in 2nd Chronicles 9, verse 8, that as a part of this reformation, Jehoshaphat appointed certain Levites and priests, the teachers and heads of families of Israel, in other words, the rulers. He appointed some of the Levites and the priests and some of the chiefs, the heads of the families of Israel. He appointed them to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases.
[00:09:59] They had their seat in Jerusalem.
[00:10:03] So he gathered some, both of the elders of Israel, the rulers, and some of the priests and Levites to join together in governing the people.
[00:10:16] That's how they function in ruling together. So there's guys that just rule, and there's guys that rule and teach in the Old Testament.
[00:10:23] We find that the title of elder in the Old Testament is also applied not just to the rulers who only rule, but it's also applied to the teachers.
[00:10:34] Jeremiah 19:1 God tells the prophet, he says, go buy a potter's earthenware flask and. And then he's going to go give him instructions that pottery, that flask is going to serve as an object lesson and a prophecy that he's supposed to give. And he says, now go and gather some witnesses together, the witnesses of the rulers of the people. And here's what he says. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
[00:11:03] Do you see there that the title of elders applied both to the guys that only rule and to the guys who rule and teach? There's this even in the Old Testament, there's the elders, this bigger category, and then there's the guys that are rulers only and the guys who both rule and teach. So that office of ruling elder began in the Old Testament, and we find that in the New Testament it continues.
[00:11:29] The priestly office and the Levitical office, the Levites who were to be pastors and teachers of the people, both of those offices were fulfilled in Jesus and his work, especially on the cross. We saw last week that Jesus appointed a new order of teachers, the ministers or pastors.
[00:11:47] But the office of ruling elder continues. In other words, it wasn't fulfilled and done away with in Christ. But like many things in the Old Testament, it continued on into the New Testament church.
[00:11:59] We find references to this ruling elder, this church governor, for example, in Romans, chapter 12, verse 6 and 8.
[00:12:08] Here, Paul speaks of different gifts and offices in the church. He says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. He speaks of teachers of prophets.
[00:12:19] And then he says, the one who leads or rules is to do so with zeal. There he's referring to the one who's given to the church as a gift to rule or to lead.
[00:12:33] Again, we find the ruling elder referenced in First Corinthians 12:28. There in that chapter, Paul's talking about the church as the body of Christ. The different members of the body each serve in its particular capacity.
[00:12:49] And he says towards the end of the chapter that God is appointed in the church. And then he lists special offices. He's appointed apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping. And then here's the ruling elder administrating or governing the gift of those who govern or rule in the church.
[00:13:12] And we've looked several Times Now at first Corinthians 5:17, where not the titles but the two functions of the eldership are referenced.
[00:13:23] Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. So there are elders who rule, and then there are elders who labor, especially in the word and the doctrine, those who teach.
[00:13:38] So that Old Testament office of ruler or church governor was carried on into the New Testament church.
[00:13:45] So to summarize everything here, Titus was to appoint two kinds of elders. The pastor or minister that we looked at last week and. And then also church rulers or governors. We usually call them elders or ruling elders.
[00:14:03] So what we're going to look at then for the rest of our time together is the idea that Jesus Christ has appointed in his church. Jesus, the king and head of the church, has appointed in his church men who act as ruling elders, elders who rule.
[00:14:21] What do these guys do? Well, first we kind of need to think then if we're thinking now about the rule or government of the church, we need to think about the fact that Jesus has appointed a government in his church. There's some kind of order or structure here.
[00:14:37] What's this all about?
[00:14:45] Sometimes we have a bit of an allergy to authority.
[00:14:49] We're not comfortable with it, and maybe we've been hurt by people in authority, and so we have some trouble with it. And of course that's understandable.
[00:14:58] But we do want to consider that there's something to this, that there is a structure, an order that Christ has appointed in his church a rule or a government.
[00:15:08] And the first thing that we want to consider then is that the church is a kingdom.
[00:15:15] Yes, the church is a gathering of people. It's an assembly of people, a society of people.
[00:15:21] But the New Testament is very clear that the church is Jesus kingdom. It's not just a club where we get together voluntarily for knitting, sewing, hiking, or some other hobby. The church is the kingdom of Jesus.
[00:15:35] It's the place where he reigns. He says, so in Matthew 16:18, on this rock I will build my church.
[00:15:45] And then he says to the apostles, representing the eldership of the church, he says, I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
[00:15:54] My church is my kingdom. Jesus is saying so the church is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and Jesus is its king. He reigns.
[00:16:08] He's in charge.
[00:16:10] As a friend of mine always says, who has the nail prints?
[00:16:15] Who has the nail prints? That's who gets to make decisions in the kingdom.
[00:16:20] He purchased the church with his blood.
[00:16:23] We belong to him.
[00:16:25] He's in charge.
[00:16:27] It's wonderful, but it's also very important to remember. And if he's our king, then his word is our law.
[00:16:36] What he says goes. Not what Stephen says, not what any individual member says. We may all have great ideas about what to do, what to believe, what would be nice to hear from the pulpit or what would be nice to do in the church.
[00:16:49] Jesus is king. His word is law. It's our rule, and it's our only rule.
[00:16:56] We, when the king speaks, we obey.
[00:17:01] And Jesus has appointed a government here on earth among his people.
[00:17:06] And that government is made up of elders or overseers as a spiritual government in his church.
[00:17:14] Paul reminds the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20:28, he reminds them that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers Christ's church.
[00:17:29] Jesus, through His Spirit, calls and appoints men to act as rulers or overseers in his church.
[00:17:38] One thing that we can draw out there, that's very important, it's a distinguishing point. In fact, wherever the elders are talked about as being appointed, they're talked about in the plural.
[00:17:52] Jesus appoints them, but he always appoints more than one.
[00:17:58] I'm not a monarchical bishop, which is what we find in, for example, the Roman Catholic Church or the Episcopal Church. One bishop who's a ruler by himself, who makes decisions for the church. There's always a plurality of elders. He's appointed a government. It's a government made up of many men in every church.
[00:18:21] Okay, so there's a government in the church. Jesus has appointed it.
[00:18:26] What does this government do? What are these elders or church rulers overseers supposed to do?
[00:18:34] If you get nothing else from this sermon, here's the one point to take away the work of elders involves applying the word of the King, Jesus word to his people.
[00:18:50] Everything we do is related to that. It's all founded on that. It all flows from that.
[00:18:56] The job of elders is to simply take God's word and apply it to his people.
[00:19:02] You see this if you look at the passages I mentioned a moment ago from the Old Testament when God gave his law to his people through Moses out Mount Sinai, he told Moses, now, I want you to appoint elders over the people, and they'll apply the law to God's people and their problems.
[00:19:19] They're going to help you lead the people by instructing them and leading them in my law.
[00:19:26] Their job was to make sure that God's people knew and followed God's law.
[00:19:32] And Jesus has continued that in his church today.
[00:19:35] The elders represent Jesus.
[00:19:37] They bring Jesus word to you. They remind you of it. They use it to encourage you, to bless you.
[00:19:43] They use it to help the church as a whole work together and following God's word.
[00:19:48] That's our job, to help us all follow King Jesus as he has commanded.
[00:19:56] Now, you don't have to remember anything else I say, if you get that that's what elders are supposed to do.
[00:20:03] But we can think about the work of elders in a couple different ways. This evening I want to look first at the titles that the New Testament uses to talk about these rulers.
[00:20:16] We looked at these before. The word elder originally means old man, just like it does in English. An elder person, an elderly man, right, an old man.
[00:20:25] But it gained a special usage in the Old Testament already, Exodus 18. Already there, the elders are not just old men, but they now hold a special office as leaders in the church.
[00:20:42] So the word elder really implies, or it indicates the idea of governing, ruling or leading.
[00:20:51] The other term overseer, or the old word bishop, has in it the idea of keeping watch over the people.
[00:21:00] An overseer is like a supervisor, someone who keeps watch over others to make sure that everything's going well.
[00:21:07] So elder, governor, ruler, overseer, supervisor, one who keeps watch.
[00:21:16] There's a third title that we can rightly apply to elders, although if we're being technical here, the New Testament doesn't use this title for the ruling elder, but it applies the command to the ruling elders, and that's the title of shepherd or pastor. Ruling elders are elders, so they govern. They're overseers. They keep watch. They're also to be shepherds together with the pastor or the minister. They too are shepherds or pastors.
[00:21:49] In 1 Peter 5, 2 Peter says to the elders of the church, including the ruling elders, he says to them, shepherds shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers.
[00:22:03] They are to shepherd the flock. Again, Paul says in Acts 20, verse 28, that the elders are to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
[00:22:16] What does that mean? It means lots of things. They're to lead the flock as shepherds. Right? That's a governing idea.
[00:22:23] They are to protect and guard the sheep.
[00:22:25] They are to keep watch over the sheep, an attentive watch if a sheep is hurting, to seek it out and to help it. If there is a sheep that's gotten weak, it needs to be strengthened and encouraged. Go find it.
[00:22:39] Right. The sheep need to be fed, the wounded bound up and cared for. And of course, the lost and straying sheep.
[00:22:48] The overseers keep a watch over them. And when they start to stray, we go out and we find them and we bring them back. You see, the titles begin to draw out some of the work of the elder as a ruler, as an overseer, as a shepherd.
[00:23:05] What does that work look like? What are the specifics here? Okay, those are the titles. I got a big idea. What are elders ruling? Elders especially, but pastors also, what are they supposed to do?
[00:23:17] Well, the first and probably chief activity that we're to be engaged in as elders is to pray for God's people.
[00:23:26] If you read through your Old Testament, every Old Testament office is called to pray for God's people. The elders are supposed to be praying for God's people. The king, the priest, the prophet, every officer in God's church, every is first called to pray for God's people.
[00:23:46] And of course, we have the example of our Savior, the good shepherd. What did he do?
[00:23:53] Constantly in prayer. Yes, for himself and his ministry, but especially for his people. Go read what we call the high priestly prayer in John, chapter 17. And there Jesus pours out his heart to the Father for his sheep, that we would come to know the Father and to know his glory.
[00:24:14] Elders are to be praying for God's people. If you want a proof text, James 5:14, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him.
[00:24:27] If we do nothing else as elders, we need to be praying for you.
[00:24:33] Secondly, and you know, these maybe come in order from hardest to easiest, most important to. Well, I don't know, most important, but definitely hardest to easiest to be diligent in prayer for you, all the flock.
[00:24:48] Secondly, elders are to lead or govern not only by praying, but by their example. The New Testament says this over and over again.
[00:24:59] We are to shepherd the flock through our example.
[00:25:03] How we lead by what we do.
[00:25:09] First Peter 5:3, shepherd the flock, not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, not ordering them around as dictators, but shepherd them, proving to be examples to the flock.
[00:25:25] And we could pile on verse after verse. Paul says several times in First Corinthians, imitate me. Follow me as I follow Christ.
[00:25:35] That's example.
[00:25:37] I model Christian behavior for you, the Christian heart, the love of Jesus. I model that for you in those things. Not in the bad things I do, but in those things. Paul says, follow me, imitate me.
[00:25:50] Titus 2, verse 7. In our own book here that we're looking at, Paul tells Titus, as a pastor, as an elder, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works.
[00:26:04] Model godly Christian living before the flock so that they would follow you in it.
[00:26:13] This is hard. It's hard to be diligent in prayer.
[00:26:17] It's also hard to lead others by example. It can be the most powerful thing if you've ever had a good, good teacher who you looked up to as a role model, godly, wonderful parents, you followed their example. You wanted to be like them because you saw how wonderful it was. Elders are called to lead the flock by example.
[00:26:37] Examples of what?
[00:26:40] Examples of living out the Gospel.
[00:26:43] Showing an example by our repentance when we sin. Showing an example by being diligent and being reconciled when we've wronged others or they've wronged us. We do this all the time in the family of God. The household of God is just like our families at home. We hurt each other's feelings. We let each other down. We say things we shouldn't to one another. And elders are called to repent of their own sins and to pursue peace and reconciliation with our relationships with one another.
[00:27:12] That means there are times when we have to. We should be.
[00:27:16] We did something wrong, and we should be eating crow and saying, hey, I hurt your feelings. I did or said something I shouldn't have. I should have called you and helped you with this, and I didn't, and I let you down.
[00:27:27] Please forgive me. We should lead by example, by living out the Gospel.
[00:27:34] We should lead by example in faithfulness, in worship, in our families, and in our attendance.
[00:27:42] You could look at any area of the Christian life, and elders are supposed to be leading by example, ruling by example.
[00:27:52] And what does that mean? Let's draw one practical thing here. That means we need to be spending time with you, and you need to be spending time with us, not just five minutes on Sunday. There's got to be time in our lives with you. In each other's homes so that we can show you and live out that godly example before you.
[00:28:11] We rule through prayer. We rule and lead through example.
[00:28:17] And of course, elders must be those who are able to teach. We read in 1st Timothy, chapter 3. Also here in Titus 1, verse 9, the elder has to hold firm to trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound to doctrine.
[00:28:38] Yes, the pastor is supposed to be the main teacher teaching from the pulpit.
[00:28:43] But all elders are called to join in teaching the disciples to observe all that Jesus commanded.
[00:28:52] The ruling elders also are called to teach. What does that look like? There's lots of things that we could point to here. They aren't called and authorized to preach the gospel in the same way that ministers are. We looked at the that last week.
[00:29:06] But think of it this way. One pastor can preach to many a whole congregation from the pulpit each week.
[00:29:15] But as I go to apply the word of God to you, I have to do it in a kind of general way.
[00:29:23] I can't do it for each of you and for each of your families in all of your specific situations.
[00:29:32] You may remember, go back and read Exodus 18. There Moses is exhausted. His father in law, Jethro comes to visit him. He finds Moses wiped out. Because all day long God's people are coming to Moses and saying, what do we do about this? How do we live out this? How do we follow God's law here?
[00:29:53] How do we settle our disputes?
[00:29:56] And all of the people are coming to Moses.
[00:29:59] It's a big problem.
[00:30:01] And so Moses appoints men to serve as elders to solve all sorts of lesser disputes and to help each of the people in their lives and families. And they're supposed to be elders appointed over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens. In other words, there are men who are appointed to, to care for families and individuals, to help apply God's word and to instruct God's people on an individual and family by family basis.
[00:30:34] And Paul did this. And when Paul's speaking to the elders at Ephesus, he says, remember I taught you publicly. In other words, he preached to the whole congregation.
[00:30:45] But he says, I also instructed you from house to to house.
[00:30:50] It's very hard for one guy up here to give instruction to each family or to each individual in the congregation. And so God raises up ruling elders to help with that. Many elders can disciple and instruct many individuals and many families.
[00:31:08] There is not just a public discipling of the flock from the pulpit, but a private one on One and discipling of the flock that is to be carried out by the elders. First Thessalonians 5:12 we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.
[00:31:32] We need many ruling elders to care for many people and to disciple them.
[00:31:38] Other work of elders there's admonition and reproof.
[00:31:43] Sometimes we need not just encouragement or comfort.
[00:31:47] We're starting to stray as sinners. We're falling into something and we need to be corrected.
[00:31:53] And the elders are to help God's people by when they see little problems, when they see sins that are springing up in an individual or family's life, to come alongside that person and correct with gentleness, with instruction, showing gently, this is how God's word applies to you and why you, my brother, need to repent and come back and follow Jesus.
[00:32:17] We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly.
[00:32:21] 1st Thessalonians 5:14 a great deal of benefit can come to individuals, to families, to the whole body. When ruling elders are diligent, keeping watch over the flock. And they see little sins, sins that come up in a small way, and they haven't blown up and caused great trouble and strife yet. And they go and they say, wait a minute, brother, let's pull this weed out while it's still small.
[00:32:47] Admonition and then there's what we might call the corporate work, the work that ruling elders do together as a session for the whole church. Here, this is where we tend to think of the government of the church. But everything I've been talking about up until now is a part of the work of ruling or leading the flock.
[00:33:09] But there's also work that's done not just on behalf of individuals and families, but on behalf of all of us.
[00:33:16] There is a work that the elders do together to lead the whole church together.
[00:33:23] We can think of this as the corporate governance, the corporate ruling.
[00:33:28] It's things like setting the time and place of worship, and we don't change that very often. I told you we'd go from the hardest to the easiest.
[00:33:36] The part that takes the most amount of our time, the part that takes maybe the least amount of our time, setting the time and place of worship, overseeing the various ministries of the church. And here, this one's very important. Making sure that when we hold our worship services, the ruling elders with the pastors, make sure that we worship God in a way that's pleasing to him and that follows his word.
[00:34:00] And finally, we Think of church discipline, the keys of the kingdom entrusted to the elders to receive people into the church if they become living a life of sin that's inconsistent with their profession, to call them to repentance. And if they turn away if necessary, and they refuse to repent, to put them out of the church, calling them to repentance. All of this, every single area that we've been talking about, has to do with taking God's word and applying it to his people.
[00:34:37] In other words, all of this has to do with leading people to Jesus and following Him.
[00:34:45] What do we do with all this?
[00:34:48] Well, first, we can take this doctrine and apply it to us, the elders, the pastors, and the ruling elders.
[00:34:55] Jesus appointed us to care for his sheep.
[00:34:59] You are not my sheep.
[00:35:02] You are not the sheep of the session here. You are Jesus sheep. He purchased you with his blood, and he calls us to care for you in his name and for his sake, and to treat you not as though you belong to us, but as though you are precious to the king, his children, his sons and daughters.
[00:35:23] That means we're to use our office and the influence that we have among you as elders, not for self promotion, not for self aggrandizement, not to build up our legacy or our agendas in the Old Testament. As you read through the Old Testament over and over again, you find the elders of God's people doing exactly this.
[00:35:48] They use their office for their own game, to build up their own influence and power.
[00:35:54] In Ezekiel 34, go home and read this if you're not familiar with it. God comes to the elders of Israel, the shepherds of Israel, and boy, does he take them to task.
[00:36:06] He says, I put you over my sheep to care for my sheep, to heal the sick, to bind up the wounded, to find the sheep that were lost and straying and bring them back to care for my people.
[00:36:19] I put you over them to do that.
[00:36:22] And he says, you've taken advantage of them. You've fed yourself at the flock's expense.
[00:36:28] You've neglected the weak, the wounded and the straying.
[00:36:32] And God says, I'm going to come and deal with you.
[00:36:38] You used my people. You didn't care for them.
[00:36:42] You have me to answer to.
[00:36:48] So first there's a warning.
[00:36:50] The sheep belong to Christ and we need to serve them on his behalf, not for our own sake.
[00:36:57] Secondly, an encouragement. First, faithful shepherding, faithful ruling of the church, usually.
[00:37:05] Okay, this might offend. Step on some toes. Usually it's thankless work.
[00:37:12] Maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration.
[00:37:16] But if we're doing our job right, people usually won't see it, and therefore we won't hear about it.
[00:37:27] The things that matter least are the outward things. The things that people see, the things that matter least tend to receive the greatest praise. And so as sinful men who are prideful, who want praise, that's where we want to go.
[00:37:47] If I were to write a successful book, people might praise me for it.
[00:37:52] If I run some successful ministry, people might praise me for it. If some ruling elder does a really great job at a successful capital funding campaign and a successful building project, people are going to praise him for it. Now, these aren't all bad things, don't get me wrong.
[00:38:12] But buildings don't last into eternity. They crumble and fall right?
[00:38:18] It's eternal. Souls of the sheep. That's what we're called to care for. That's what matters, and that's what people don't see us doing.
[00:38:27] The things that matter most will probably go unrecognized.
[00:38:32] Sometimes they even go resented.
[00:38:36] When elders come alongside and comfort the mourning, nobody sees it when we heal the wounded, nobody sees it when we encourage the weary, when we stand up for the truth, when we resist corruptions and intrusions on worship, people say, oh, he's a stick in the mud. He's getting in the way of progress.
[00:39:03] And people resent us.
[00:39:07] Here's the encouragement.
[00:39:10] First Peter 5 When the chief shepherd comes.
[00:39:15] When the chief shepherd comes, you will receive the crown of glory.
[00:39:21] Not because you built buildings or wrote books, but because you cared for his sheep.
[00:39:33] Now, for the rest of you, what do you do with this doctrine that Christ has appointed ruling elders in his church to care for you, receive their ministry, pray for them, Pray for them, and receive their ministry.
[00:39:49] Now, not because there's something great about being an elder.
[00:39:54] It's not some great and marvelous accomplishment that someone becomes an elder.
[00:40:00] And this sermon, just like last week's sermon, isn't here to exalt the office, special offices, and glorify elders and pastors.
[00:40:12] But Christ has appointed us to serve you, to lead you to Him.
[00:40:18] So pray for us and receive our ministry.
[00:40:23] I want to underscore this, highlight it, whatever.
[00:40:28] In First Corinthians, chapter 12, Paul talks about the gifts, including these offices, like pastors, teachers and ruling elders, and other things, other gifts that Christ has given the church to serve one another.
[00:40:43] And at the end of his discussion about that, he says, earnestly desire gifts to be able to serve others in the church in these special ways. It's good things, he says.
[00:40:54] And then he says this. I will show you a more excellent way.
[00:40:59] There's something better than being a ruling elder or a preacher, or even being one who has prophecy and gifts of miracles and Paul's day. Paul says, there's something greater than all of that.
[00:41:12] And you remember what that is. That more excellent way is the love chapter, First Corinthians 13, that exposition of love as patient, kind, gentle. He says, look, you can have knowledge, you can be a brainy preacher who studied all kinds of things, but if you don't have love, it's useless.
[00:41:33] You can have prophecy, miracles, no love, useless. He shows you clearly that love, the office of love, what every Christian is called to. Sometimes we talk about the priesthood of all believers, the general office of believer. Sometimes it's just called the office of love.
[00:41:53] It's the most wonderful thing. It's far more excellent than being a preacher or a ruling elder.
[00:42:01] And that's what you, as God's people are called to.
[00:42:05] And that's why there are ruling elders and pastors to help you, to assist you, to encourage you in your office of love, to edify you, to build you up, that you might grow in your love for God, that you might see more of Jesus and his love for you, that your heart might be drawn to him and that out of your love for him would flow love towards one another.
[00:42:31] The whole reason there are offices and ministry in the church is so that you would grow in love.
[00:42:38] That's the only reason we have authority, is for your edification.
[00:42:44] So receive our ministry and pray for us.
[00:42:49] When the elders are faithful, the sheep are protected. When the elders are faithful, the weak are encouraged, the herding and the wounded are bound up and healed. The straying are brought back. The sheep are protected from the wolves that arise within, from the threats without, and most importantly, when we're faithful, you, the sheep, are led to Jesus.
[00:43:16] So receive our ministry.
[00:43:19] How do you do that?
[00:43:21] Seek us out.
[00:43:23] Build relationships with your session members, with the elders and your pastors. Open your homes to us. Invite us in so that you can get to know us and we you, so that you can follow our example, so that we can give you instruction and help in the things of life.
[00:43:39] Seek us out. When you have problems. That's when things are going well and healthy.
[00:43:44] When things start to get difficult and you need help, pick up the phone and call us. Grab one of us on Sunday morning and say, pastor, elder, I need some help.
[00:43:54] I don't know what to do. I've fallen into this sin. I've got a problem here and I'm not sure what to do. Seek us out. And when you don't, and we see you straying and come and seek you out, let us into your life, take our calls, meet with us. Let us chase you down and point you back to Jesus.
[00:44:16] Pray for us and receive our ministry.
[00:44:20] This is all about Jesus and his kingdom. And his kingdom is a place where he reigns in righteousness, in justice, and where he wants to pour out blessings on you, his church.
[00:44:33] To receive our ministry when it's right and good is to receive Jesus in his ministry and to submit to his reign. Let's pray.
[00:44:44] Gracious God and Father in heaven, we acknowledge our great unworthiness. We don't deserve your blessings. We don't deserve the gifts that you give to the church in the form of pastors and elders.
[00:44:59] And the reason we don't deserve these things is the very same reason, Lord Jesus, we need you and your saving work in our hearts and lives.
[00:45:08] It's because we are little rebels, each one of us. We shake our fist at you through our sin. We turn our nose up at the good gifts you offer us.
[00:45:21] We turn our face away from you and we pursue worldly things. O Lord Jesus, forgive us.
[00:45:27] Forgive us. And by your spirit, remove all of this rebellion.
[00:45:32] Quell it, squash it.
[00:45:35] Make our hearts to be at peace before you.
[00:45:38] Here we are in your presence, O God, our king.
[00:45:42] We quiet our hearts before you and we ask that as we humble ourselves before you, you would lift us up, that you would draw us to our Savior, the Lord Jesus, and that we would find in him all the blessings, all the good that we need for his sake, we ask, amen.
