Teaching on the Office of Ruling Elder (Ephesians 4:1-16)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.799 As at the occasion of the ordination of a new ruling elder in our church. 2 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.910 One of the things that we see in this passage is one of the 3 00:00:09.269 --> 00:00:13.189 an expression of the goal that God has for us in the Christian life. 4 00:00:14.269 --> 00:00:18.989 He is equipping us, he is building us up, we read in verse 5 00:00:19.109 --> 00:00:24.500 twelve, until we attain a kind of unity, a unity of the faith, 6 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:27.980 it says, and of the knowledge of the son of God. There 7 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:32.939 is this goal, the scripture says, to mature manhood, to the measure 8 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:37.170 of the stature, of the fullness of Christ. We are not to be 9 00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:40.929 children, in other words, but tossed about by this thing, that thing, 10 00:00:41.009 --> 00:00:44.490 everything that comes along. There's a solidity that God wants for us, 11 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:50.479 and not just a moral solidity, but a solidity in Christ, which of 12 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:56.000 course, entails morality. But it's something more than that. Paul is telling 13 00:00:56.039 --> 00:01:00.320 us that what God wants is for us to grow up into him. He 14 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.269 says in Verse Fifteen, WHO IS THE HEAD INTO CHRIST? And to do 15 00:01:04.629 --> 00:01:11.549 these things God uses means. It says that when Christ ascended, we read 16 00:01:11.750 --> 00:01:17.069 in Verse Eight, he ascended on high and led a host of captives and 17 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:23.540 he gave gifts to men. The picture here is the conquering king who has 18 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:29.700 conquered his enemies and is now dist beating gifts to his kingdom. But the 19 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:36.049 gifts that he distributes here are two different kinds. One kind is the kind 20 00:01:36.250 --> 00:01:40.609 that equips each one of us. We read in verse seven, though, 21 00:01:40.689 --> 00:01:45.049 there is this great unity in us. All. Grace is given to each 22 00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:49.760 one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Another way it speaks 23 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:53.519 about the gifts is in terms of men. He gave gifts two men, 24 00:01:55.159 --> 00:02:00.120 but he also gave gifts of men. What do I mean? Well, 25 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:04.629 he says he gave gifts. He gave verse eleven, the Apostles, the 26 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:10.789 prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers, in order to accomplish 27 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:17.900 all of these things. That's what we're celebrating here today, and it's important 28 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:27.419 to recognize that fact because sometimes we celebrate the wrong thing. Sometimes we find 29 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:31.889 ourselves and situations where we're excited, where we're filled with joy and we're moving 30 00:02:32.009 --> 00:02:38.449 forward, but we're it's entirely a misdirected it's very important that we ask ourselves 31 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:45.039 not just how am I feeling? And I'm feeling joyful, I'm feeling celebrating, 32 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.240 and I feel celebratory. As a church, we are glad, but 33 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.439 we have to ask this question. Why are we celebrating? Why do we 34 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:04.310 rejoice at the ordination installation of a ruling elder? It's an important question. 35 00:03:04.830 --> 00:03:07.830 Why are we joyful? Why are we celebrating? Because when we celebrate the 36 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:14.939 wrong things it can be embarrassing and other things as well. I like to 37 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:19.139 remember and sometimes tell this story about the one and only bike race I ever 38 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:23.340 be was in. It began in Sedona and ended in Sedona, but there 39 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:27.969 were two different loops you could take. You could do the forty mile loop 40 00:03:28.370 --> 00:03:31.250 or you could do a hundred mile loop. My friend and I decided to 41 00:03:31.330 --> 00:03:35.569 do the forty mile loop and we went down to cottonwood and came back, 42 00:03:35.729 --> 00:03:38.569 but neither of us were very prepared. Our bikes were wrong, we weren't 43 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:43.520 fit. My friend got a flat tire on the climb back up the hill. 44 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.919 We were very slow. By the time we got there, all of 45 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:51.199 those other people that had gone to cottonwooded back that forty miles had arrived and 46 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.680 were eating their spaghetti dinners. In fact, we were so late that when 47 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:59.629 we came out then when we arrived, they thought, the organizers of the 48 00:03:59.669 --> 00:04:05.189 event, that we had won the hundred mile race, and so we chug 49 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:11.139 into the parking lot and they are giving us balloons, they're taking our picture, 50 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:16.980 they're saying you did it on those bikes and it after we realized what 51 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:23.420 had happened and we told them. Rather than waiting around for the real winners 52 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:28.810 to arrive, we left as quickly as possible. Now, this was extremely 53 00:04:28.850 --> 00:04:31.569 embarrassing for me and for my friend, but it was also embarrassing for these 54 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:38.959 people. All of this misdirected celebration, misdirected joy, was gone in a 55 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.439 way, and I don't know what they did, but I suppose they had 56 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.920 to conjure it all back up again in order to celebrate the real winners, 57 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:54.910 who would no doubt arrive soon. The moral of the story when you celebrate, 58 00:04:54.910 --> 00:04:58.990 it's a good idea to know that you're celebrating the right thing, that 59 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:03.750 you celebrate know why you're celebrating. Misdirected joy can be kind of like sprang 60 00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:09.180 water around in the air to water a tree. It might cool off the 61 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:13.660 air for a moment, might feel good, but ultimately that's as far as 62 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:17.579 it goes. But when we celebrate for the the right thing and for the 63 00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:24.089 right reasons, it's like deep watering something. It produces a lot of benefit 64 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:28.610 and is, of course, enjoyable as well, especially in the heat. 65 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:33.889 So in the ordination of elder often do all we are celebrating a particular thing. 66 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:42.319 What are we celebrating? We are celebrating a particular action of God's grace 67 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:47.560 among us, and that's a signific efficant thing. Some people say that God 68 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:54.430 isn't at work today, but we have seen that he is. We are 69 00:05:54.589 --> 00:06:00.389 praising God for his ongoing work among his people, for doing the very things 70 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:08.899 that are a promised here in Ephesians chapter four. Let's consider this more deeply. 71 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:15.139 Most immediately, of course, we are celebrating an ordination. And just 72 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:18.569 as we might be faint, but I'm sorry, but just as we might 73 00:06:18.649 --> 00:06:25.129 be thankful for flowers that come up after the monsoon rains, it's a perfect 74 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:29.050 opportunity, when you see a flower like that, to praise God for the 75 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:32.839 rains themselves, and that's what I'd like to do now. The Flower of 76 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:40.839 Pete's service has been produced in us by something good, the sweet smelling rain 77 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:47.230 of God's salvation. Pete, like every believer, is a flower in the 78 00:06:47.389 --> 00:06:56.110 desert, a seeming impossibility made beautifully visible, to put it very plainly. 79 00:06:56.310 --> 00:07:05.060 And our brother is here because God saved our brother. God sent his only 80 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:11.899 son, Jesus Christ, to come into the spiritual desert of this world so 81 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:16.730 that our new ruling elder and everyone who would follow after Jesus Christ would drink 82 00:07:16.810 --> 00:07:24.889 this eternal law otter and spring up into this glorious bloom for him. Because 83 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:30.040 of the sin the entered into the world through our first parents, through the 84 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.199 sinful fall of Adam and eve. We, their children, have all been 85 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:40.360 born, all mankind has been born into this terrible, miserable state. We're 86 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:46.269 like dead seeds planted and a dry desert. The Bible describes this lots of 87 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:48.990 different ways. We read about an Ephesians. Some of these just descripture, 88 00:07:49.589 --> 00:07:57.310 descriptions walking in darkness, children of Wrath, other descriptions of this state that 89 00:07:57.430 --> 00:08:03.500 we're all born into. Our like are equally as dark. We are born 90 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.139 into sin, the Bible says. We're born under the law and it's curse 91 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:13.290 for disobedience. We're born into bondage to our sins. We are children of 92 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:20.370 Wrath. We do things that are deserving of death, and our lives outside 93 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:26.560 of Christ bear witness to this fact. That's isn't just a real theoretical reality. 94 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.919 Bad things are produced in bad people. Our sinfulness in us, our 95 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:39.559 bentness towards perversity and away from the things of Godd produces things that are not 96 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:43.230 of God, things that we've read about in Ephesians this morning, things which 97 00:08:43.669 --> 00:08:52.389 ought not to even be spoken about, Paul says, in our brother will 98 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:56.299 testify to this sad fact. This is exemplified in his own life as well. 99 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:01.019 The sinful reality of being born, or the reality of being born into 100 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:05.500 sin, the reality of being born and under law, the reality of producing 101 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:11.769 works of darkness. It's a it's a terrible thing. But what happened? 102 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:15.529 What God has done in the world and in our lives as he has come 103 00:09:15.610 --> 00:09:18.809 into the world to take what was dead and bring it to life, to 104 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:24.799 take what was dark and make it light? How he's he done that? 105 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:31.240 Well, he did it by becoming death for us, by taking the penalty 106 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:37.440 of our sins on himself, by being our substitute, by paying for what 107 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:43.789 we owed, and he died in our place. But because Jesus is God. 108 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:48.750 He was able to make complete satisfaction for all of our sins before God. 109 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:54.539 Death was unable to hold him, and that's why Ephesians, for says 110 00:09:54.740 --> 00:10:01.139 when he ascended, it's speaking of Jesus is not just his Um kingly ascent, 111 00:10:01.299 --> 00:10:05.740 but a literal ascent. is well, he rows up from the dead 112 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:11.169 because he overcame death, not just in and of himself, in and for 113 00:10:11.289 --> 00:10:18.450 himself, but for everyone who believes in him. He was a substitute for 114 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:24.600 us. God gave his only son so that whoever would believe in him would 115 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:33.080 not perish and continue in death, but have everlasting life. This is what 116 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:37.669 Jesus is done. He came to die to pay for our sins, but 117 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:43.190 in doing so he took the power of sin away from us. He takes 118 00:10:43.309 --> 00:10:50.259 what is dead and he makes it alive. He finds what is lost and 119 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:56.580 declares it to be found. This is the background of what we are celebrating 120 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:01.539 in the fact that our brother has come before the congregation this morning and promised 121 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:05.929 to serve and love the Lord Jesus and lead us in those things. That's 122 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.090 what's happened. God has done something really wonderful. He is takes someone who 123 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:16.730 is lost and is found him. Jesus tells a story with this in relation 124 00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:22.840 to celebration in Luke Fifteen, eight through twelve. He's explaining the Kingdom of 125 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.120 God and he tells this story that sort of centers around a question and he 126 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:35.190 says this. What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, 127 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:39.110 does not lie a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she 128 00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:43.710 finds it? And when she has found it, that coin that she lost, 129 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:50.019 she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me, for 130 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:56.179 I have found the coin that I had lost. Jesus then says, just 131 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:01.529 so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over 132 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:07.409 one sinner who repents. It's that a wonderful thing that when a sinner comes 133 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:13.009 to the Lord and repents, because of God's gracious work in them, he's 134 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:22.039 finding of the lost one, the heavens themselves resound with joy. Perhaps you 135 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:26.320 remember the first, I think it's the first stance of amazing grace by Isaac 136 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.720 Watts. Yeah, it's the first one. Amazing Grace. How sweet the 137 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:33.870 sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now 138 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:41.230 I'm found. Was Blind, but now I see. We, as we 139 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:45.820 celebrate the fact that our brother has been called to serve God is our ruling 140 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:50.100 elder, we would do well to remember that it is God who has made 141 00:12:50.179 --> 00:13:00.289 that possible by sending Jesus to find the law us to rescue us. This 142 00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:05.769 is true for the life of every person who repents and believes the gospel of 143 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:13.639 Jesus. Now let's stop here for a moment and think about what it means 144 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:22.399 to be found, what it means to be saved. Some people think of 145 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:26.669 salvation only in terms of the initial steps of faith and repentance in the Christian 146 00:13:26.750 --> 00:13:35.509 life, Thou's first commitments and first prayers, first confessions. Other people think 147 00:13:35.549 --> 00:13:41.460 about salvation only in terms of the final step from this world and into the 148 00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:46.500 next. They think of salvation purely in terms of being in heaven, of 149 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:54.899 the resurrected life or eternal life that follows this age and this time. The 150 00:13:54.019 --> 00:14:01.289 salvation of Jesus secures both of these things for us, but it's much more 151 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:09.129 than that. Being found or being saved includes the life in between these two 152 00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:13.840 points. In other words, God doesn't just forgive us and then ditch us 153 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.559 and then show up at the end. He forgives us and then, as 154 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.750 Paul says in Effusians, for here he equal whips us, he forgives us 155 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:33.990 and equips us by and with His grace and unites us to Christ himself to 156 00:14:33.149 --> 00:14:41.500 be part of his body. In other words, when God equips us, 157 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:46.340 he equips us to belong to something, right here and right now, as 158 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:50.700 members of the church, as body, as part of the as members of 159 00:14:50.779 --> 00:14:54.169 the body of Christ, and that's another thing that we're celebrating here today. 160 00:14:56.409 --> 00:15:00.929 The Bible says that every believer WHO's united to Christ is made a part of 161 00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:05.529 his body. What does that mean you? We are not to think about 162 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:13.639 that in physical terms and try to imagine what is a spiritual organism. If 163 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.919 you try to imagine what the body of Christ looks like with us as its 164 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.710 members, you're going to have problems. If you try to imagine that, 165 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:28.750 you should just stop. It's it's because it's a spiritual unity that's described here. 166 00:15:30.669 --> 00:15:33.429 It the which is by nature invisible. It has no visible form. 167 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:39.019 So trying to imagine something in the some ways that doesn't exist as a fruitless 168 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:43.580 exercise. So what's the point? Of talking about the body of Christ. 169 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:46.659 Well, it's not to give us a kind of it's not to describe it. 170 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:52.049 It's Hansible, visible form, but it's to describe how we function, 171 00:15:52.809 --> 00:16:00.370 how we work together, how our unity exists. The purpose of the descriptions 172 00:16:00.490 --> 00:16:03.570 is not to tell us what the body of Christ looks like, but how 173 00:16:03.610 --> 00:16:07.320 it functions. Well, how is that? It says that when we are 174 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:12.519 saved, every believer is united to Christ and equipped for service in it. 175 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:21.789 A hand that was formerly useless becomes a hand and as good for doing things. 176 00:16:22.830 --> 00:16:26.309 Take your body, for instance, your hand and brush your hair, 177 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:32.940 feed your mouth, clip your toenails. They can also help help in other 178 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.460 ways. It can do things that are useful outside of the body as well. 179 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:42.740 Lift someone up, provide them money, give them food. Remember what 180 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:48.970 Paul says in Romans twelve versus for and six for, as in one body, 181 00:16:48.370 --> 00:16:52.169 we have many members and the members do not all have the same function. 182 00:16:53.049 --> 00:16:59.970 So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members 183 00:17:00.129 --> 00:17:03.960 of one another. This hand belongs to this hand. In a way, 184 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:08.319 they work together, is what Paul is saying. Having gifts that differ according 185 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:12.759 to grace, according to the grace given to us. Let us use them. 186 00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:22.029 In God's calling of a man or any of us into the body of 187 00:17:22.069 --> 00:17:27.630 Christ and equipping us for service. He's doing something really wonderful there, isn't 188 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:34.299 he? Notice the word gifts there? Sometimes, I think we're too used 189 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:37.460 to using this word we forget what it means. For example, we might 190 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:42.019 call someone gifted and we're only thinking about how amazing they are and not the 191 00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:48.170 fact of how amazing God is as the one who has gifted them. But 192 00:17:48.529 --> 00:17:52.250 Paul uses the word gift here. If it helps, you could think about 193 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:57.599 the word presence. Each one of us have presence from God. Our various 194 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:03.440 aptitudes, functions, gifts within the body of Christ. These are presents that 195 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:07.680 are given to us by the grace of Christ. The other words, again, 196 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.880 God doesn't forgive us and ditch us. He forgives US and brings us 197 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.470 into the body of Christ, the church, that we might be useful and 198 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:22.349 used. Take what Paul says in First Corinthians twelve, four and seven. 199 00:18:22.670 --> 00:18:27.099 Here he points out that gifts are not given to us just for individually blessing, 200 00:18:27.259 --> 00:18:33.420 but for a together people. That's why they're there, he says. 201 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:37.180 Now there are variety of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are 202 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:41.609 varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, 203 00:18:41.730 --> 00:18:47.410 but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone, to 204 00:18:47.650 --> 00:18:53.730 each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. That's why 205 00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:59.240 we have them, the unity of the body of Christ being united to him 206 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:03.720 our head. We are not given gifts to say look when I got and 207 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:08.160 you can't have it, like little kids might do it and that birthday parties 208 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:14.589 or something, or adults might do and they get a job or a promotion 209 00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:18.589 or a new car. A God equips us, as he is equipped Pete, 210 00:19:18.670 --> 00:19:22.670 not to be a showoff, a braggart, a goody two shoes. 211 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:30.220 God Equips and empowers for the common good, for service in his name. 212 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:34.619 That's not, by the way, just a thing to do. It is 213 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:41.849 a thing God is doing. Notice he equips, he empowers. Why? 214 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:48.089 To unite us to himself. So those who are called as ruling elders to 215 00:19:48.210 --> 00:19:53.200 watch over the flock and fail to serve in this way come under the anger 216 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:59.720 of God. Jeremiah twenty three, one and two. Woe to the shepherds 217 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:04.440 who destroy and scatter, to the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. 218 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.109 Therefore, thus, as the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning 219 00:20:10.230 --> 00:20:15.309 the shepherds who care for my people, you have scattered my flock, you 220 00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:22.299 have driven them away, you have behold. I will attend to you for 221 00:20:22.460 --> 00:20:30.619 your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Here one more passage from the Apostle 222 00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:37.569 Peter, Peter Five, verses one through four. Here he gives instructions to 223 00:20:37.730 --> 00:20:42.890 elders and he says not that, don't do that, do this instead. 224 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:48.769 First Peter Five, one through four. So I exhort the elders among you 225 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:53.440 as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as 226 00:20:53.480 --> 00:21:00.000 a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock 227 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:07.309 of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, 228 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:11.470 as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, 229 00:21:12.150 --> 00:21:17.910 not domineering over those under your charge, but being examples to the flock. 230 00:21:18.549 --> 00:21:23.099 And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading Crown of glory. 231 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:30.740 So we've not moved away from our main topic of celebrating. Do you 232 00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:37.049 see the point? God's Word is telling us that he quips and he had 233 00:21:37.210 --> 00:21:42.009 powers us for service, and that includes are ruling elders. We're not celebrating 234 00:21:42.170 --> 00:21:48.279 that there is a man who among us who leads a moral life. There's 235 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.839 lots of that. We're not celebrating the fact that somebody has offered to be 236 00:21:53.079 --> 00:22:00.079 useful or serve. We're celebrating something much, much deeper. Those who are 237 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.710 called to oversee the flock are called to do so as an extension of who 238 00:22:04.950 --> 00:22:12.150 they are in Christ's body they are. We are celebrating the fact that those 239 00:22:12.150 --> 00:22:17.539 who are called to oversee the flock are doing so as those who are empowered 240 00:22:17.660 --> 00:22:22.500 by the spirit of Christ, and we are members of that same body. 241 00:22:25.299 --> 00:22:29.740 Good rulings elders, then, are not an example of moral living. There 242 00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:33.690 an example of Christian living. That, of course, includes moral living, 243 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:40.210 but it's so much more than that. In their lives, by the way 244 00:22:40.250 --> 00:22:45.640 they live and by what God is doing in their lives and in the life 245 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:52.039 of the body, we see the grace of God magnified. We see someone 246 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.200 who is lost who is found, someone who is blind who has seen and 247 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:00.869 who is now testifying and leading us in those very same truths. By the 248 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:06.670 power of God who is doing all those things. You see where grace is. 249 00:23:06.829 --> 00:23:11.910 It's everywhere, in everything that's going on, in everything that's being done, 250 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:15.940 Christ, who unites all these things by his spirit, working in us. 251 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:25.660 This is a huge blessing. God is at work among us, and 252 00:23:25.819 --> 00:23:30.049 what we're celebrating here today is not that this happens in a general way, 253 00:23:30.049 --> 00:23:37.690 but it's happened in a very particular way in a particular person, and of 254 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:41.720 course you know we have pete in mind in particular. But it's true of 255 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:45.880 all of us, all of us being united to the body, all of 256 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:52.559 us being equipped and empowered for the common good, to the glory of God, 257 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:57.150 to his praise and wonder. There of course, many implications of this. 258 00:23:57.190 --> 00:24:03.710 Let me share just three. For one, Christ centered, Christ empowered 259 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:10.259 service gives our elders boundaries and shape to the kind of service they give. 260 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:18.220 They are not ministers of themselves, they're ministers of Christ. So Jesus gives 261 00:24:19.099 --> 00:24:25.609 rules and he describes this in Mark Ten. He says in verses forty two 262 00:24:25.650 --> 00:24:29.210 and forty five. Of you know that those who are considered rulers of the 263 00:24:29.289 --> 00:24:34.410 gentiles Lord it over them and they're great ones exercise authority over them. But 264 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:38.720 it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must 265 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:42.839 be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave 266 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.880 of all. For even the son of man came not to be served but 267 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:55.269 to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So what 268 00:24:55.509 --> 00:25:06.430 happens when a grace empowered, grace saved servant of Christ then goes and serves 269 00:25:06.549 --> 00:25:15.099 in the name of Christ? Christ is shown, grace is shown. This 270 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:19.420 is why I say it gives our elders service and shape to their ministry. 271 00:25:21.769 --> 00:25:26.849 Christ centered, Christ empowered service also gives those who serve confidence, knowing that 272 00:25:26.970 --> 00:25:32.170 they serve not in their own strength but in Christ's, that they serve not 273 00:25:32.289 --> 00:25:37.119 according to their will but his. That's why they can be shaking in their 274 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:45.240 boots and nervous and scared and still say thus says the Lord, because ultimately 275 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:49.910 it's not up to them. Ultimately they serve not themselves, they serve Christ, 276 00:25:51.670 --> 00:25:57.069 who is their talk, their redeemer, their commander. And finally, 277 00:25:57.150 --> 00:26:03.309 this is why God tells us to honor and to obey your leaders. Hebrews 278 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:07.059 thirteen, seventeen. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are 279 00:26:07.059 --> 00:26:12.180 keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. 280 00:26:14.339 --> 00:26:18.180 Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be 281 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:23.250 of no advantage to you. God gives us leaders, elders in the church 282 00:26:23.809 --> 00:26:29.690 for our advantage, for our blessing gifts, as we said at the beginning. 283 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:37.319 That's what we're celebrating today. We are celebrating God's work among us, 284 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:45.440 in Christ by his spirit, not a work out there, but a work 285 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:52.349 in us. God is doing work in people whose names that you know. 286 00:26:53.269 --> 00:27:02.140 Direct work, spiritual work, gift, giving life, empowering, salvation, 287 00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:08.859 bringing work. When Jesus saved sinners by dying on a cross for their sins, 288 00:27:10.859 --> 00:27:17.009 he saved them completely. He brings us all together under him. He 289 00:27:17.210 --> 00:27:21.289 pays the price for their redem I should in full. There's not a bit 290 00:27:21.369 --> 00:27:23.970 of debt left over that he plans to pay off at some future date. 291 00:27:26.089 --> 00:27:33.440 Know, you fully and freely belong to him when you trust him, and 292 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:36.680 then he does this not just with you, but with others. He equips 293 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.400 us all. This means that our experience of salvation is a complete one. 294 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:47.269 There's a beginning to it and an end to it. But right now we 295 00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:57.740 are experiencing the glorious middle, the sanctifying power of God. In Christ we 296 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:07.220 find not only regeneration and glorification, but also sanctification, and that's what we 297 00:28:07.339 --> 00:28:14.210 celebrate today as those who belong to him. We celebrate the glorious middle in 298 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:21.089 which Christ is continuing his work in us, the gracious middle in which every 299 00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:26.160 member is empowered and equipped with the very life of Christ himself, by the 300 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:34.160 Holy Spirit himself. And so may our joy and our celebration be in Christ. 301 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:45.029 Let's pray our heavenly father. We lived our happy