This morning we’ll be looking at the third of four messages that deal with the Biblical model for church leadership that we are attempting to implement the very best we know how here at TFC. Since each of these messages builds on the previous ones, let’s take a moment to review what we’ve learned so far.
We began by focusing on the concept of shared leadership from which we developed these four foundational principles:
1. Pastoral oversight of the church is to be a team effort
2. The concept of shared leadership allows for a “first among equals”
3. The New Testament uses three different words to describe the same leadership position:
• “presbuteros” = elder
• “episkopos” = overseer or bishop
• “poimen” = pastor or shepherd
4. Biblical church leadership does not distinguish between “clergy” and “laity”
Then last week, we focused on the role of the elders within each local congregation, including here at TFC.
The Elders’ “P.L.A.C.E.” in the Body:
Protect the body
Lead the body
Admonish the body
Care for the body and
Equip the body
In order to carry out those responsibilities, our elders have developed an Elder Family Ministry and hopefully this week each of you has been contacted by one of our elders who will be a resource for you in helping you to grow in your relationship with Jesus. We think we have included all of our families in that ministry, but if we have somehow missed you, please let me or one of our other elders know and we’ll make sure that you’re included.
Today, we’ll look at the other side of the coin and focus on our responsibility as a body toward the elders. To be honest, this is kind of an awkward sermon for me because it seems a bit self-serving to stand up here and teach all of you about how your are to treat me and the other elders. But let me assure you that our only purpose this morning is to share with you what the Bible teaches about this subject. I am extremely blessed to be able to minister here in this church and to be generously compensated for my work here. So I am certainly not seeking anything more for myself this morning.
But I do have a responsibility to make sure that all of us have a good handle on what the Bible teaches about how we are to treat those who have been entrusted with a leadership role here at TFC. As an elder, overseer and shepherd, I would be neglecting my responsibility to all of you if I failed to do that.
I’m going to begin this morning with a passage that establishes the overall principle and then we’ll pull in a few other passages that give us some more guidance on how to apply that overall principle. So go ahead and turn with me to 1 Timothy 5 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 17:
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
1 Timothy 5:17-22 (ESV)
The overall principle
The body is to honor the elders
The Greek word which is translated “honor” in verse 17 originally designated the amount of money paid which determined the value of an item. But it came to be used much more broadly to indicate the honor which was due to a person as well.
Paul began this chapter by describing how the body of Christ was to honor widows and then goes on to give some specific instructions about how that should be done. Then once he finishes that section, he goes on to point out that if the widows are due honor in the body, then the elders who lead the body are due double honor. Paul then goes on to describe how that honor is to be demonstrated. So we’ll begin with this passage and then go to a few others as well and look at some practical ways that we as a body can apply this overall principle of giving honor to the elders.
SIX WAYS TO HONOR THE ELDERS
1. Respect them
This first practice is implied by the word “honor”. And it is a practice that we find throughout the New Testament, especially in Paul’s letters. Perhaps the clearest example is found in this passage:
We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 (ESV)
The word “respect” is an interesting word. It comes from a verb that literally means “to know”. But is not the word that is often used which means to know by experience. Instead, it conveys the idea of coming to know something by careful consideration. So the idea here is that the Christ followers in Thessalonica were to come to a full understanding of the worth of their leaders.
They are also called to esteem them very highly. The verb esteem also pictures giving careful thought to something and not making a snap judgment.
Taken together we find that Paul counseled the Thessalonians to give careful consideration to the work that was being carried out by their church leaders and to highly that work based on what they discovered during that process.
One of the reasons that we’re taking these four weeks to teach on the Biblical model of church leadership is so we can all carefully consider the role of the elders here at TFC and develop an appropriate respect for those men and their work.
2. Compensate them
We won’t spend a whole lot of time here, but Paul is very clear that the elders, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching, should be supported financially by the local body that they serve. He quotes both the Old Testament and the words of Jesus in support of that practice.
Having been a bi-vocational pastor and church planter, I can testify firsthand what a great blessing it is to me to be able to devote my full time and effort to this task because of the generous financial support that this church provides for me.
But before we leave this practice, I’d like us to think for a moment about how this might be applied to the other elders who are not considered paid staff here at TFC. These godly men devote substantial time and effort to their leadership responsibilities and while it may not necessarily be appropriate to compensate them financially, I do think that we do owe something to these men.
At a minimum they deserve to be compensated for what they do with the respect that we’ve already discussed. And we need to show that respect in a tangible way. Perhaps that is just an occasional note thanking them for what they do. Or perhaps it is a word of thanks or encouragement from time to time. Maybe it’s taking them out for a cup of coffee or inviting them over to dinner. We all need to demonstrate by the way that we treat them that we value what they do here in this body.
3. Protect them
In his instruction to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that no elder is to be accused of any wrongdoing unless charges are brought based on the eyewitness account of at least two or three witnesses.
Church leaders are prone to attacks both from outside the body and from within the body. Those attacks can come for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they come because people resist Biblical authority so when they are confronted with the truth of Scripture they lash out at the ones who are teaching that truth. I think sometimes they arise out of jealously and envy from those who want positions of authority, but who have not been granted them. Sometimes I honestly think it is become people unwittingly become pawns of Satan and want to tear down that which honors Jesus.
Just think about all the accusations that were hurled against Jesus. He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and even being possessed by a demon. So we should not be surprised when our church leaders experience similar attacks. But we should never be the ones who are engaging in such unwarranted assaults.
Because even the accusation of impropriety can completely undermine the ministry of a church leader, Paul makes it clear that unsubstantiated claims are not to be “admitted”. The verb “admit” means “to entertain” or to “consider in the mind.” So what Paul is teaching is that we aren’t even to consider such a claim.
One of the best ways that you can protect your elders is to turn a deaf ear to unsubstantiated claims made against them. This principle that an accusation requires at least two or three witnesses before it is to be considered goes all the way back to the Old Testament:
A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
Deuteronomy 19:15 (ESV)
And Jesus confirms the very same principle when dealing with the topic of church discipline:
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Matthew 18:15-16 (ESV)
So the next time someone comes to you and starts to make any kind of accusation against one of our elders, you have a responsibility to protect them.
I find this is actually a pretty good principle to apply whenever anyone comes to me with any kind of accusation against another. The first thing I ask is “Did you observe this firsthand?” If the person says “no” then I politely tell them I won’t discuss the matter any further. If they say “yes” then the next question I ask is “Did anyone else observe this?” Again, if the answer is “no”, then I refuse to discuss the matter further. If the answer is “yes”, then it’s time to pursue the matter further.
Obviously, Pau l does not give this instruction for the purpose of protecting an elder who is engaging in some open, continuing sin that needs to be dealt with. In fact, in the very next verse, he makes it clear that sometimes in order to honor our church leaders we need to…
4. Rebuke them
The first thing that you’ll notice here is that Paul is addressing persistent sin. As I have pointed out consistently, the elders are sheep, too. We are human and we will make mistakes and we will sin. So Paul is not saying that the body should go around in groups of two or three in order to try and catch the elders committing some sin. What he is addressing are those times, hopefully few and far between, when one of the elders develops a lifestyle of sin.
And when that occurs, it is not appropriate to just sweep things under the rug and let things go away quietly. In those situations the elder needs to be brought before the body and be rebuked publicly. And that is to be done regardless of whether that elder has repented and/or made restitution if necessary.
Because of their position in the body, the continuing sin of any elder has the potential to do much more damage to the body than the sins of the rest of the body. So, in order to protect the body, that sin must be dealt with more publicly than the sins of the rest of the body. However, even then, that discipline must be carried out in love with the goal of restoring that persons’ relationship with God and with the body of Christ.
It seems that two words of warning are in order based on these last two practices we’ve discussed:
• First, we must always be very careful before we speak a word against any elder. We should only do that in those situations where we have verified evidence and even then it should only be done after much consideration and prayer.
• Second, becoming an elder carries with it a tremendous amount of responsibility and one should never enter into that role lightly.
The next practice we’ll look at this morning is certainly implied in the passage from 1 Timothy 5, but we’re going to also draw upon some other passages where this practice is developed in more detail.
5. Submit to them
We’ve already looked at 1 Peter 5 the last two weeks, so let’s just concentrate on verse 5 this morning:
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 5:5 (ESV)
The command “be subject” uses the very same verb that most of us are familiar with from Ephesians 5 where wives are directed to “submit” to their husbands. That verb is derived from a military term that literally means “to place under in an orderly fashion.”
In this world God has established various levels of authority which function under His ultimate authority for the purpose of protecting and blessing His people. So those in authority are not there to act on their own, but rather to be instruments in the hand of God to help us be the people that God wants us to be.
In each nation, God has established civil governments to protect and bless its citizens. In the family God has established the authority of husbands over wives and parents over children. And for that authority to be effective, those who are under that authority must voluntarily submit to that leadership. The principle of authority and submission does not in any way imply that those under authority are inferior. God has just given different roles.
Ultimately, being submissive is a matter of trust. One must trust that both God and the leaders He has put in place have your best interests at heart and that those interests are served best by submitting to that God-given authority.
In the church, God has established elders to oversee and shepherd the flock. And when the men in those positions lead the church in a godly manner and the body submits to the leadership of those men, God’s purposes are furthered and the people in the body are protected and blessed.
But this idea of submission is not one that is real comfortable for many of us. In this postmodern world, we’re taught that there is no “absolute truth” and therefore that each individual can determine his or her own truth. Thus each person becomes his or her own authority – not subject to the authority of anyone else.
Even in the church, especially in Baptist circles, we have developed a church government which is often not based on Scripture but rather on the democratic principle that every member has an equal vote. Unfortunately what happens in that environment is that the church becomes much like the political world around us where people become polarized and seek to have their own way, even at the expense of others.
There is even the story of a Baptist who was stranded on a desert island. When rescuers finally found him, they saw three buildings on the island. They asked, “What’s that building?” “That’s my house,” the Baptist answered. “Well, what’s that second building?” “That’s my church,” he said. “But, then what’s that third building?” “Oh, that’s where I used to go to church.”
Unfortunately that illustrates what happens all the time in our culture. Whenever there is something people don’t like in a church, rather than submit, they leave and start or join a new church.
But obviously, God never intended that we just blindly submit to the elders, regardless of what they do. In the book of Hebrews, we find some further guidance that will help us determine how to submit to the elders in a Biblical manner.
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith…Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:7, 17 (ESV)
In verse 17, the writer of Hebrews uses a different Greek word for submit. This is the only place in the Bible this particular word is used and it literally means “to resist no longer”. In its context here in Hebrews it reinforces the idea of yielding to the authority of the elders within the local church.
But we also find some practical guidance here that helps us to understand when it is appropriate to submit to the leadership of the elders.
First we see that the elders have been tasked by God with the responsibility to keep watch over our souls and that one day they will have to give an account to God for how well they carry out that task. This reinforces the idea that God has placed the elders in a position of authority for the good of those in the body. And we also find that when we prevent the elders from doing what God has called them to do, and to be able to do that with joy, it robs us of the advantages of having that godly leadership over us. Together those two facts show us just how serious this matter is to God.
But we also find that the command to submit to the leadership of the elders is conditional. We are to first consider the outcome of their way of life before we obey them and submit to their leadership. We see this process in action in Acts 17. When Paul and Silas went to Berea to preach the word of God, we find that those who heard the word from them didn’t just blindly obey what they were teaching and submit to that authority:
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Acts 17:11 (ESV)
When we put this together with the instructions in Hebrews 13, we find that the body is responsible for obeying and submitting to the elders when they handle the Word of God accurately and then conduct their lives in a manner that is consistent with that Word. Once again, that doesn’t mean that any of us as elders will do that perfectly. We, too, are sheep who will make mistakes and fail at times. But an occasional failure on the part of an elder is not an excuse for us as a body to rebel against their leadership.
6. Pray for them
We find this principle throughout the New Testament. In his letters, Paul consistently asks the churches to whom those letters were sent to pray for him and for others who were in leadership positions in the local churches. And in the book of Hebrews, right after the passage we just looked at that commanded the church body to obey and submit to their leaders, we find this request:
Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
Hebrews 13:18 (ESV)
This may very well be the key to everything else we’ve discussed this morning. Our elders have a heavy responsibility that we cannot possibly carry out apart from being equipped daily by God. So they certainly need our prayers. And when we consistently pray for them, I think we’ll find that it makes it much easier for all of us to respect them, compensate them, protect them, rebuke them when needed and to submit to them.
We are truly blessed as a church to have a godly group of men who God has placed in a position of authority. And it is in our best interest as a body and as individuals to honor them and honor the God who has placed them there by:
• Respecting them
• Compensating them
• Protecting them
• Rebuking them when necessary
• Submitting to them
• Praying for them
