Since we have people here at TFC who have come from all kinds of different church backgrounds, we have all been exposed to different models of church leadership and structure. So as we address that topic here for several weeks, this is going to be an area where many of us may struggle with trying to get a handle on the model established by Jesus and the early church leaders. But after spending over a year studying the Biblical model, our elders area absolutely committed to implementing those principles the very best that we can. And as we do that, we need to make sure that our entire body understands and is committed to those principles as well.
We began our study last week by establishing the overall principle that must be our starting point – that of shared leadership. Since that is such a crucial foundation, let’s take a moment to briefly review what we learned last week:
1. Pastoral oversight of the church is to be a team effort
Every New Testament church in Scripture was led by a group of elders. There is absolutely no Biblical example of a single authoritative pastor or any form of hierarchical leadership.
2. The concept of shared leadership allows for a “first among equals”
We do find that within these groups of elders certain men who were particularly gifted in the area of public teaching rose to positions of leadership and influence with those elder bodies. But they were in no way superior to the other elders nor did they assume all the decision making responsibilities.
3. The New Testament uses three different words to describe the same leadership position:
• “presbuteros” = elder
• “episkopos” = overseer or bishop
• “poimen” = pastor or shepherd
All three terms help us to understand the role of the elders within the body. They are spiritually mature men who oversee the spiritual development of the members of the body and care for the needs of the flock. We’re going to explore those responsibilities in much more detail this morning.
4. Biblical church leadership does not distinguish between “clergy” and “laity”
The distinction between “clergy” and “laity” is a man-made division that is not supported at all by the Bible. Every believer is a royal priest and called to be a minister. Again, we’ll expand on that idea some more today.
Having established a Scriptural foundation for the concept of shared leadership, we’re going to focus today on the role of the elders within a local body. In order to do that, we’re going to look at a couple of passages that describe that role and then see if we can develop a good overall picture of the role of the elders within the body.
The two passages that we’ll look at are ones that we touched on last week, but we’ll go back and draw out some additional information this week. The first is from Paul’s address to the elders from the church in Ephesus in Acts 20.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:28-35 (ESV)
The second passage is Peter’s exhortation to his fellow elders in 1 Peter 5.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:1-5 (ESV)
From these two passages, as well as a few others that we’ll look at this morning, we can identify five tasks that characterize the role of the elders within the body. I’ve summarized those with an acronym “P.L.A.C.E.” that we can use to help remember those five functions.
THE ELDERS’ “P.L.A.C.E.” IN THE BODY
1. Protect the body
Both Paul and Peter refer to the local church as a flock. That idea implies that, like sheep, the people in the body need protection because they are not well-equipped to protect themselves. Sheep are easy targets for predators like wolves, coyotes, foxes and bears. Since they really don’t have any weapons with which they can defend themselves they are dependent on the shepherd to protect them.
In Acts 20, Paul acknowledges the fact that we discovered last week – the elders are both sheep and shepherds at the same time. So Paul begins by exhorting the elders to first pay careful attention to their own lives before they then do the same for the entire flock. The verb that Paul uses there carries the idea of constantly being alert and on guard. That is a necessary attribute for both a shepherd and an elder.
The shepherd must constantly be alert and on guard because the sheep are vulnerable all the time and he never knows what threat may arise and where it might come from.
The elders need to do the very same thing in a spiritual sense. Paul warned the elders that after he left, spiritual wolves were going to try and attack the flock by introducing false teaching in their midst. And it was crucial that the elders were constantly on guard because they never knew when and where those spiritual wolves would attempt to attack the flock.
There are two major areas where the elders must be protectors of the body:
• Doctrinal error
This is the area Paul primarily addresses with the Ephesian elders. As we’ll see when we examine the qualifications of elders in a couple of weeks, it is absolutely vital that the elders are mature believers who have a good handle on Scripture so that they can recognize false teaching and deal with it immediately so that it doesn’t get a foothold and begin to infect the body.
Paul reinforces this responsibility in his letter to Titus:
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9 (ESV)
• Sinful behavior
This is an important, but often neglected aspect of protecting the body. So we’re going to deal with it in some more detail when we get to our third task in a few minutes.
2. Lead the body
One of the most essential roles of a shepherd is to lead his sheep. Sheep are basically stupid animals and if left to their own they are largely incapable of finding food and water and are apt to be injured are even killed as they wander into trouble.
Now keep in mind that every time I refer to sheep as being stupid, that I’m including myself and all the elders, too, since we are sheep as well as shepherds. So I’m certainly not trying to imply that we’re in any way superior to anyone else. We just have a different role.
As we saw last week, one of the three terms that is used in the New Testament to refer to church leaders is “overseer” and that term certainly implies this role of leadership. Peter further emphasizes that role when he writes that the elders are to “exercise oversight”.
Paul also emphasizes this role of leadership when he writes about the role of an elder. Let’s look at a couple of passages where Paul addresses that role.
For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach…
Titus 1:7 (ESV)
Here Paul describes the elders as “stewards”. As we discovered during our focus on Biblical stewardship in the Sermon on the Mount, we can define a steward as one who manages another’s property, finances, or other affairs. Here, Paul is describing how the elders are to manage the local church, which is, as we have constantly pointed out, the body of Christ of which He is the head. But the elders are to manage the local body on Jesus’ behalf. And just like in any other situation in which one must manage something on behalf of another, leadership is required. But there are obviously a lot of ways in which a person might try to exercise leadership. But in the church only one method of exercising leadership is to be exercised by the elders. Paul describes that method in his letter to Timothy where he is providing guidance on the operation of the church at Ephesus.
• Elders are to lead by example
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV)
I think all of our elders would tell you that this is by far the scariest aspect of being an elder. The idea that we are to lead by being examples to the rest of the body puts a great deal of pressure on us as we live our lives. And the fact is that we will never carry this out perfectly because we, too, are stupid sheep who make mistakes in our lives. But based on my experience with the men who serve as elders here at TFC I am confident that they have a heart to be living examples to the flock. Not one of these men is ever going to ask any of you to do anything that they aren’t willing to do themselves.
3. Admonish the body
As I mentioned earlier this is one of the most neglected and the most difficult tasks that the elders have.
When Paul addressed the Ephesian elders he talked about how he had “admonished” the flock during his ministry in Ephesus. In order to understand this aspect of the elders’ ministry, we need to take some time to understand the meaning of the verb “to admonish”.
The Greek verb that Paul uses here and elsewhere in his letters literally means “to place in the mind”. As it is used in the New Testament, it means “to impart a loving warning of the consequences of sin” The idea here is that when the elders observe sin within the body that they deal with that sin not by being judgmental or condemning people but rather with gentle teaching which is intended to help the person recognize his or her sin and deal with it in a Biblical manner.
When this practice is carried out in a loving manner by the elders it not only protects the individuals in the body from incurring the serious consequences of continued sin, but it also protects the body by preventing that sin from permeating and impacting the entire body.
Unfortunately when this practice is ignored, it not only subjects the individuals to further harm, it usually requires much more serious action down the road. That seems to be exactly what happened in the church in Corinth. Since the sexual immorality within the body hadn’t been admonished by the elders, it had progressed to the point that Paul had to call for some pretty harsh measures to deal with that sin once it had permeated the body:
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (ESV)
Next week, we’re going to deal more with the body’s responsibility toward the elders, but while we’re dealing with this topic, let me just encourage you to be open to the admonition of our elders should that be needed in your life.
I know that our elders take this responsibility very seriously and they are committed to carrying out their admonition in a gentle manner because they genuinely care for the people in this body and want what is best for both the individual and for our body as a whole.
4. Care for the body
Both Paul and Peter deal with this role. In his farewell message to the Ephesian elders, Paul encourages them to “help the weak”. And as we’ve already seen, Peter’s charge to “shepherd the flock of God” pictures the kind of care that a shepherd has for his sheep.
Although, as we’ll see more clearly in a moment, the elders are certainly not responsible for carrying out all the ministry of the church, their role is to help insure that both the physical and spiritual needs of the body are met. One of the practical ways that this occurs is described by James when he encourages the readers of his letter to call on the elders to pray for them when they are sick.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
James 5:13-14 (ESV)
Many of you have had the chance to be part of that kind of care that our elders have for the body.
Over the last year or so our elders have been working on a plan to improve our service to the body in this area. And after much discussion and prayer, we’re finally ready to put our plan into practice and it’s my privilege to share this plan with you this morning.
In order to make sure that we can be more personally involved in the lives of our church family and to make sure that no one falls through the cracks, so to speak, we have developed an Elder Family Ministry in which all of our families have been allocated among the elders. In this way each of the elders has a manageable number of families that he can really get to know and be available to care for their needs.
Over the next week, all of you will be contacted by the elder who will be primarily responsible to care for your needs. That elder is available to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus and become a mature disciple who follows, serves and proclaims Jesus as Messiah. We are all excited about how this process is going to help us as elders be much more effective in being able to carry out our role of caring for our church body.
Because this plan is to care for the needs of our body and those needs vary so widely we don’t want to bog this process down with a bunch of “rules” and make it inflexible. So let me share just a few things with you that will help this work well for all of us.
• First, let me make it clear that you are in no way viewed as merely an “assignment” by our elders. These men truly have a heart to get to know you and be an effective shepherd in your life. So if your elder isn’t available or if for some reason you’re not comfortable with that particular elder, feel free to come to me or to one of the other elders with your needs. You won’t offend any of us.
• None of us as elders are equipped to handle every need on our own so we may involve other elders as well as other members of the body when it will help meet your needs. This is still a team ministry of our elders and we regularly discuss and pray over the needs of those in our body as a group to make sure that we use the most effective resources available in caring for your needs.
• Our ability to care for your needs is directly dependent on how willing you are to be transparent and vulnerable. We can’t address needs unless we are aware of them. I know it’s not easy for most of us to share our struggles with others, but until we do that, we probably won’t be very effective in dealing with them.
• Help our elders get to know you better. Invite them over for a meal or take them out for a cup of coffee. Find ways to spend some time with them. The better we get to know you and you get to know us, the more effective we can be in caring for your needs.
• This is going to be new for all of you and for all of us as elders. So certainly there are going to be some ways we can improve the process. So please feel free to share any ideas that you might have with one of us.
5. Equip the body
We need to look at one more passage in order to get a good handle on this last role of the elders.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
There is some debate about whether some of the roles mentioned – especially apostles and prophets – still exist in the church today. But rather than get caught up in that debate, let’s focus on what is not in dispute. As we saw last week, the elders in the New Testament church are frequently either called shepherds or are commanded to shepherd the flock. In this passage, the shepherds are very closely connected with the teachers. In fact in the underlying Greek it is even more clear that the shepherds, or as some translations render it, pastors, and the teachers are the same person. They are shepherd-teachers, which as we have seen is a very accurate description of the role of a Biblical elder.
And their role, as it is described by Paul here is to equip all the saints for the work of ministry. Whenever Paul uses the word “saints” in his letters, he is not referring to some class of “super Christians” that have been declared saints by some religious hierarchy. Nor is he referring to a “clergy” class in any way. Paul consistently uses the word “saints” to describe all Christ followers.
This is a crucial passage that reaffirms what we learned last week when we discovered that there is no Biblical distinction between “clergy” and “laity”. Every member of the body of Christ is both a priest and a minister. But within the body, God has gifted and tasked the elders with the responsibility to equip every member of the body to engage in ministry.
I hope that you’ll stay and join us for the “Connections” Bible study after the worship service because we’ll have some time to develop this important principle in some more detail then.
I am very grateful to be part of a group of elders who take these responsibilities very seriously. We are very blessed as a body to have elders who
Protect the body
Lead the body
Admonish the body
Care for the body and
Equip the body
Let’s pray.
