Church: Authority and leadership in God’s local church.

Good morning. We're going to read the Bible now. There are two readings. Please turn with me.

First one is in Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, verses 10 to the end of the chapter, and then the first five verses of chapter 4.

2 Timothy 3:10

And then the second reading we're going to read is in 1 Peter 5, and that's going to be the first seven verses.

So, 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured.

Yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,

knowing from whom you learned it,

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,

who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.

Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season,

reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,

but having itch in years, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering,

do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Our next reading is from 1 Peter 5, verses 1 to 7.

1 Peter 5:1–7

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.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,

so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Well, good morning, everyone.

One of the things I learned and was reminded of again this week at the conference,

I was at least that I need help to speak and you need help to listen.

So let's pray.

Lord, reshape our hearts to hear your word.

Make us delight in your word.

But more than that, Lord, delight in you who has spoken your word.

Make us long to be like you.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Well, how should we be governed?

We've been talking now for four weeks.

This is our fifth week talking about the local church.

How should decisions be made in our local church?

Two weeks now we've looked at God's agenda.

Christ has a very clear agenda for the church.

But who's responsible for implementing that agenda?

Who's responsible for making sure that the church stays faithful and consistent in that agenda?

Big questions to wrestle with, actually.

A pastor friend of mine once said these words.

He said, you know, David, the greatest conflict in my ministry life, his ministry life,

and that was a long one.

The greatest conflict in my ministry life was not about doctrine,

but about the nature of authority and leadership.

In short, he said, I find that people just don't want to be led, according to God's word.

That's a seriously sobering thought, isn't it?

Of course, most Christians recognize the need for some form of leadership in a local church,

like ours, a community.

But the big issue is about the distribution of authority and leadership across the church family.

That's where it comes down to.

How much authority do church leaders like myself have?

And then what authority and input do those who are not church leaders,

which, after all, is the vast majority of a community like ours,

what authority do you have in this local church community, this local church family?

And it's that question, getting that right, which has been responsible for so much confusion,

so much hurt,

dare I say, so much passive, aggressive rebellion in local church families against leadership.

And indeed, even sadder to say, it's been responsible for some open warfare against leaders in the local church.

And at one extreme, some Christians give not much more than lip service to the concept of leadership.

But secretly, they resent it or they ignore it and actually just do their own thing,

as much as they're able to.

Or perhaps they secretly hanker for a democracy.

That is, well, all we need is the body of Christ,

and therefore everybody should have an equal input, equal authority.

We're just the body.

And at the other extreme, then,

some Christians expect the leaders to take all responsibility

for the health and well-being and longevity of a local church family.

Not just all the responsibility, but all the blame when things don't go well.

While they remain passive and unthinking,

or selectively involved just in the bits they like to be involved in,

or, perhaps worst of all,

while they sit on the sideline and critique and criticize.

And again, I'm trying to be fair in this sweeping everybody into this,

some Christians, and this is a terrible sadness,

some Christians have been deeply wounded and traumatized

by heavy-handed leadership.

What I call magisterial leadership,

acting as if, you know, they're the king, they're above the law.

And that sort of thing has left them wounded, as I say, traumatized.

And at a practical level,

left them deeply suspicious of leadership.

And sometimes, even after many years,

people have been unable to move on from that.

And so, practically,

they might be in a totally different context,

but they still struggle to have a positive engagement with leadership.

Very quickly and easily sort of default back

to combative engagement with leadership.

Friends, with every other aspect of church,

as we've been thinking about it,

authority and leadership must be examined and established from Scripture.

And this morning, I hope to give you a clear,

but unfortunately it has to be necessarily brief,

overview of what I believe the biblical structure of authority

and leadership in our local church family ought to be.

If you've got your bulletin with you or you've got it on your phone,

you can maybe switch between pages or look at that.

There's a diagram there.

I love diagrams,

but I'm not terribly good with the technology of putting them together.

So it may or may not be helpful to you.

I think it's a wonderful diagram,

and I'm sticking to that story.

You can do whatever you like.

The first three or four points here this morning.

The first point is this,

a very basic point.

We've been saying it for four weeks now.

When we think about the distribution of authority and leadership,

we need to establish first things first.

And the first thing to establish is that it's Christ's church.

Christ is Lord of his church and the chief shepherd.

That's how he's described,

and we'll see that in 1 Peter passage we're looking at this morning.

In fact, we're going to look at it now.

1 Peter 5, verse 2,

1 Peter 5:2

talks about Jesus being the chief shepherd in verse 4.

We are a local expression of God's church.

We've established that over four weeks.

We are, in another term, a flock,

one of the flocks of Jesus,

and he is the chief shepherd.

We are the sheep.

And he rules for us and cares for us.

The church is precious to him.

It is the means by which he does his work in this world.

It is the context in which he means

he's died for people to come to maturity.

We've established all those things over recent weeks.

And that's repeated across Scripture,

from one end of the Bible to the other end of it.

We started four weeks ago, Matthew 16, 15.

No sooner has Jesus been identified by his disciples as Messiah

than he actually articulates what he's come for as Messiah,

and that is to establish and build his church

by dying for his people.

Inseparable to the role of Messiah

is the building of his church.

Colossians 1, verse 18.

Colossians 1:18

You can look it up if you're able to,

or I'll read it to you.

I assume I can find it, of course.

Colossians 1, verse 18.

Colossians 1:18

It says that wonderful paragraph about the preeminence of Christ.

And Christ is the head of the body, the church.

It is through the church,

as much as anything else in this world,

that Christ will be preeminent.

Christ is supreme in every way.

Ephesians, we've seen in the last few weeks,

from start to finish is about Christ's church.

Christ's church is God's big idea.

His one building project in the world,

we said a couple of weeks ago.

The gathered community of God's died for people,

gladly serving and worshipping God.

And so we could go on and on and on

about the church being Christ

and the preciousness of the church to Christ.

But here I just want to move on quickly from this point.

Friends, here's the problem with that.

Given the verses I've referred to

and dozens more we could consider,

it is so sad.

that so often Christians in local churches

act as if the church is theirs

to do with as a place.

Act as if they have supreme authority.

And in brackets,

if they take supreme authority,

then they're also taking supreme responsibility

to care for it and protect it and nourish it and build it.

But that tends to get cut off.

People just want to say,

well, we can do,

we can make this church wherever we want it to be.

It's our church.

And that's the language we use.

And it grates on me no end when,

and I heard it,

I don't know how many times it was come from this week,

oh, tell me about your church.

And my standard refrain was,

and people thought I was just weird,

I don't have a church.

I minister at,

but I think people just thought I was being a wally.

Anyway, move on.

But it's Christ's church.

And that's a crucial thing to get right to start with.

Secondly,

Scripture is God's voice into his church

and the world at large.

Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3.

We'll come back to 1 Peter 5 in a minute.

Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3,

2 Timothy 3:14–17

verses 14 to 17.

In these verses,

we have a comprehensive statement

about the authority of God's word

and its place in the governance structure

of the local church.

And we're told here,

the Bible is God-breathed.

It is God's words in men's words.

It is God speaking into his church in real time.

In living words.

Powerful words.

The fact that it's God-breathed

gives us both the source of the authority,

sorry, gives us the source of God's word

and the authority of God's word.

It's all God wants to say

into his local church.

It's all God needs to say

into his local church

and into his world at large.

His church in particular.

It's through the living,

breathing word of God

that we begin life as Christians,

as the Spirit takes that word

and applies it deep in our hearts and minds.

It's through the living word of God

that we move towards maturity

or as we've seen in other passages,

grow up into salvation in Christ.

What's that?

Well, we're about to say in a minute,

being fully equipped for responsible,

wise, consistent Christian living.

Verse 14, Paul's speaking to Timothy,

giving him instructions as a young preacher,

young pastor.

As for you, Timothy,

continue in what you have learned

and have firmly believed,

knowing from whom you learned it.

That's a bit of family history there.

And how from childhood,

you've been acquainted with the sacred writings.

Here it comes.

which are able to make you wise for salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus.

Want to apply God's agenda?

We need to be students of God's word.

All scripture.

Do you hear that?

All scripture.

Not just the bits we like,

but the bits that are convenient.

But all scripture

is breathed out by God

and profitable.

It's hard to believe

how some churches

who turn their back in God's word

can actually read that verse.

They've obviously decided

it's not that profitable at all.

And there's something better

to be front and center with in church.

Profitable for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness.

That's the messy stuff

of growing to maturity.

We just need to learn to start with.

And then as we learn

God's way of doing things,

we will stubbornly be stuck

in our way of doing things.

So we need,

we need,

you know,

to be knocked around a bit

by our fellow believers.

To be corrected.

To be challenged.

Why?

Not because anybody takes delight

in showing up

somebody else being wrong.

But because it all moves us

as part of this training

in righteousness.

Which is

that the man of God

or the person of God,

that the believer

may be competent.

Competent.

well,

competent means

to know God's word,

to know the concept of grace,

to be able to apply

grace to other people's lives,

to be able to live in grace

in my own life,

all the while aware of my sin

and struggling to deal with it.

That's what it is to be competent

in God's word.

And that then

leads to being equipped

for every good work.

That is,

being skilled and equipped

to live

as God wants me to live.

That is,

every good work.

Doing that which is pleasing to him.

Doing that which is

kingdom building.

Quite literally then,

God's word,

God's living word,

is spoken

into our local church here

to shape us

in every way

possible

and imaginable.

And that includes me

as a Christian leader.

Even Christian leaders

are to be under

the absolute authority

of God's word.

It's to be the basis

of every decision

I make as a leader.

Every action I take

as a leader.

Every structure

I urge on the congregation

as a leader.

Every program

that we adopt

as a leader.

And all of us included

every conflict resolution

in our church family life.

The Bible must stand

over reason.

I.e.

what I think is right.

It must stand

over experience.

What we feel is right.

or what we'd like

to be right.

What makes me happy.

Or what works

pragmatically.

The Bible must stand

over our culture.

What our society

says is right.

Popular or desirable.

My friends,

that's why

God's word

is and has been

and hopefully

always will be

central in the life

of our church family.

we read it

and we encourage you

to teach it.

Read it.

Sorry,

we read it

and we teach it

and we encourage you

to read it

and learn it.

Both in this community

and its subunits

as we meet

during the week

but also in your

biological family

in the home

day by day,

week by week.

We're constantly

encouraging God's people

to dig into

God's word.

Why?

Just because it's

something that

we get the hots for?

No,

because God's word

is so central

to who we are

as a people,

as a community.

We cannot be

the community

that we call

ourselves God's church

apart from being

competent

in God's word.

Expanding our

understanding of it

and applying

its wisdom

and truth

to your life

individually

and the community

life of this

local church family.

Now,

again,

let me just pause

there before I move

on to the next point

and just ask a question.

The question comes

down to a very simple

one,

that is,

does God's word

have that much

authority,

that much

immediacy,

that much

importance

to you?

Make it really,

really practical.

Does God's word

shape

your determination

and your thinking

as you walk

in that door

every Sunday morning

to be in community,

the community

we call the church?

It should.

But I have to

confess

with probably

the rest of you,

it doesn't shape

me like that

as I walk

in the door

some morning.

I'm shaped

by,

you know,

something not

sitting right on me.

I'm shaped

by things

that happen

during the week.

I'm shaped

by interactions

with people.

I'm shaped

by fears.

I'm shaped

by lack

of understanding.

I'm shaped

by a desire

to be liked.

I'm shaped

by a whole heap

of things.

To my shame,

I confess that to you.

when I should

be shaped

by God's word

when I walk

in that door.

Determine that

every word I speak

is sourced

in God's love

and God's grace

and unity.

See,

the church,

this series

is called

Church,

a Forteist of Heaven.

Well,

what do you think

is going to govern

and dominate

with such beauty

and sweetness

and delight

in heaven?

God's word.

We're going to

hang on it

in a way

that we've never

been able

to hang on it

here in this life.

So if we want

church to be

a Forteist of Heaven

as people come

in the door,

let's be seasoned

by God's word.

So the question remains,

does it determine

your commitment

to and involvement

in this local

church family?

so that

everything you're

involved in

and committed to,

you do so

believing those

things to be

helpful in moving

us to competency

as Christians,

moving us to

maturity as Christians,

moving us to be

equipped for God's

word and good works?

Does God's word

ultimately drive

how you operate

in relationships?

Does it drive you

when you need

to seek to

repair relationships?

Because let's face it,

the longest

relationships can be

broken just like

that, can't they?

And don't we find

it so easy to live

with broken

relationships?

When God's word

is full of the

very things that

we need to repair

them.

But we like to

hang on to our

hurts, don't we?

More than we like

to go to God's

word to have

things repaired.

Third point then,

moving on.

Christ intends his

people to be

nurtured in

structured communities.

With the primary

authority of Christ

and God's word

established,

we can now

sort of zone in

or zoom in a little

bit on the

leadership structures

in the church.

But commonly,

in a sermon like

this, that would

now zero in on

the role of elders.

And you might

well expect a

lecture on elders

and your

responsibility to

them.

And I'm not going

to disappoint you,

but maybe not the

way you think.

The focus would go

on elders or

bishops or

shepherds or

what's the fourth

word?

I can't even see

me.

Pastors, there

you go.

Sort of four words

used in the New

Testament that

essentially can be

used interchangeably.

And that's where

that diagram on page

two comes in.

And so, here's what

the nuances have to

start.

It's clear that the

scriptures have a

fair bit to say about

elders and the role

of elders in the

structure of leadership

in a church.

church.

But, equally

important, there's

another structure that

often gets overlooked

that's spoken about

just as strongly in

the concept of

leadership and

nurturing in the

church.

And that concept is

the interconnectedness

or the interdependency

of believers.

believers.

I like to use the

term the priesthood of

all believers, but

people don't really

understand that.

So, it's the

interconnectedness of

the body of Christ.

We've looked at that

metaphor of the body

over the past few

weeks.

And to have a

healthy body, all

the parts need to be

working in sync.

If you get some

parts of the body

that just aren't

functioning, then

you've got a

distorted, terrible

shape of a body,

haven't you?

You would say, well,

there's the

consequences of sin

in our world.

The

interconnectedness of

the body of Christ,

which we also need to

display in total

balance with the

role of elders.

Now, again, you

see, Christians tend

to go to extremes in

the practicalities of

leadership.

One extreme is the

outright denial or

an ignorance of the

need for any

functioning leadership

structure in the

church.

Call it eldership or

a leadership team or

a pastor team,

whatever you want to

call it.

And again, I'll go

back to what I said

in the introduction.

Lots of Christians

might say, well,

what's all that about?

Why can't we just

have the body of

Christ?

The other extreme is

to adopt an

eldership or

leadership structure

which operates with

such a controlling

authoritarianism that

any concept of the

body is either

totally obliterated or

is just tokenism.

So one extreme says, hey,

what's your problem with

leaders?

All we need is the

body of Christ.

The other extreme

says, hey, you sit

down and be quiet.

It's the elders that

have the wisdom and

the insight in this

congregation.

It's the elders that

will decide what happens

in this congregation.

It's the elders that

decide what this

congregation is going

to look like.

You just sit down and

wait until you're

spoken to.

I can take you to

churches where both

those operate very

successfully, well,

not very successfully,

very openly.

The key for distribution

of authority according

to biblical structure,

I believe, is a

harmonious balance

recognizing both,

valuing how they

complement one another.

The interdependent body

or the priesthood of all

believers is an obvious

and central structure

to be displayed in the

local church.

If you want to turn

with me to Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, I'm going

to jump through a few

verses now, so you

might just want to

listen.

Hebrews chapter 10,

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

well-known passage,

verses 22 to 25.

The writer in Hebrews

says to the believers,

let us draw near with a

true heart in full

assurance of faith,

with our hearts

sprinkled clean from an

evil conscience and our

bodies washed with pure

water.

In other words, let's

draw together very

conscious of who we are

in Christ.

Let us hold fast the

confession of our hope

without wavering, for he

who promised is faithful.

Let's draw together, let's

gather together conscious of

who we are and conscious of

what we will yet be as we

look to the future.

And out of those two

things, let us consider how

to stir up one another

to love and good deeds.

Not neglecting to meet

together, as is the habit

of some, but encouraging one

another.

And all the more as you see

the day approaching.

Since the church community

believers are Christ's new

priesthood, like the priests

of old, we have a duty of

care for one another.

priests needed to pray for

the people and care for the

people.

And the one another, the

together idea in there is

there for us.

We're to pray for one

another.

We're to care for one

another.

We're to nurture one

another into full assurance.

We're to help one another

keep our eyes fixed on the

hope that's before us.

We're to demonstrate and

extend love, unity to one

another.

Together, we're to have a

lifestyle which is played

into the Lord and kingdom

building.

Ephesians 4, 1 to 16, that

body matter.

In a very real sense, we

stand or fall together.

If part of the body is not

well, is not functioning, then

the body becomes grotesque.

And we can't just say, well,

that's an arm or a leg.

I don't need that bit.

I'll just press on with my

little finger part of life.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 1,

Galatians 6:1

1 to 4, 1 to 3.

Galatians, Ephesians, here we

go, we'll get there eventually.

When was the last time you

thought about this?

Brothers, if anyone is caught

in any transgression, you who

are spiritual should restore

him.

What doesn't it say there?

Well, that's the job of the

elders.

If those people fall off the

edge of the track as

Christians because they've

fallen into sin, those elders

just aren't doing their job

again.

Typical.

You who are spiritual, that

is, we are our brother's

keeper.

You have a responsibility for

every other you.

And I don't want to offend,

where's Vicky?

Don't want to offend Vicky

again.

So it's you all.

Is that it?

Instead of you's.

You all have a responsibility

for you.

For one another.

I don't know how that all

works.

Anyway, yep.

Restore him in a spirit of

gentleness.

kindness.

We know what we need to do

and we know how we need to

do it.

And we need to recognize the

danger in doing it.

So as we have humility, lest we

fall into the same trap.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you

too be tempted.

That's our attitude of coming

into helping one another.

Bear one another's burdens.

Well, of course, I just don't

have time to listen to all that

claptrap that people have.

Stop whinging and get on with

life.

I'm too busy.

Bear one another's burdens and so

fulfill the law of Christ.

I am my brother's keeper.

The interconnectedness, the

interdependency of believers.

Ephesians 5, verses 15 to 21.

Ephesians 5:15–21

I'm not going to read that

through, but it speaks there of

the mutual submission that there

needs to be in Christ's community.

Why?

Well, go and read it for yourself.

For the benefit of all.

So I need to be able to submit to

you.

Yes, even as a leader.

Expecting that the Lord at times

will use me, when necessary, will

use you to speak into my life.

To reprove me.

To correct me.

To discipline me.

And you need to be able to submit

to me.

Believing that my speaking into

your life is designed for your

good, your spiritual well-being.

When we've had part-timers and

staff, they have witnessed that

first of all, years ago, and then

Martin and Jeremy and others, the

deal always was, or when I meet

with people one-on-one for a Bible

study and prayer, the deal always

is.

Yes, I'm 66.

I've been in ministry more years

than you've been alive.

But if you can't come into this

relationship with me, and the

expectation that the Lord might use

you with your limited life

experience to speak into my life

with a massive amount of life

experience, if you can't do that,

then I'm not interested.

That's the way it is.

Somebody coming in with limited

ministry experience can cut through

all the baggage and rubbish that

I've accumulated over the years and

get to the heart of things.

Cold would stop having yourself on.

Philippians 4, verses 2 and 3.

Philippians 4:2

Remember that episode dispute in the

church?

Between two ladies, I entreat

Euodia and I entreat Sinkte to agree

in the Lord.

There's a problem that needs to be

resolved for the sake of the church.

It needs to be resolved.

Yes, I ask you also, true companion,

help these women who have laboured

side by side with me in the gospel

together with Clement and the rest of

my fellow workers, whose names are in

the book of life.

If you read around that, this is

written into the context of a

community.

Two ladies with a problem?

Solution involves the whole community.

Not the whole community in the same way

at the same time, but it needs to be

the context.

Help them sort out the problem and

support them back into productive

gospel witness.

Hebrews 13, 7 and 17.

You think I'm laboring this a little

bit?

Good.

You're getting the message.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke

to you the word of God.

Consider the outcome of their way of

life and imitate their faith.

Verse 17, 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.

Now those verses occur in chapter 13.

If you get your Bible like mine, the

heading for the chapter is spiritual

sacrifices acceptable to God.

Sacrifices pleasing to God.

That is, actions and attitudes in the

community of God's people which delight

the Lord.

And among other things, it lists this

mutuality in respect of leadership.

Leadership is to be offered in the

context of grace and love and concern

to build one another up.

And it's to be received as that.

It's to be responded to in godly ways.

And that package, when it works well, is

a sacrifice that's pleasing to the Lord.

So, zooming in even more, elders in the

office of elder is fundamental to churches

across the New Testament.

And today it's even more in focus for us

because we're adding three more elders to

our eldership team here.

Now, Christ has bought his church.

It's been a massive investment on his

part.

And he has secured his investment by

appointing managers, if I can call them

that, or elders to act on his behalf.

Now, back to 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Verses 1 to 7.

And not surprisingly then, since an elder is

a manager or an undershepherd serving

under the chief shepherd, it's not surprising

then that the chief shepherd gives very clear

parameters in which his undershepherds need to

work and function and act, both in terms of what

they do and in terms of the attitude and character

in which they do it.

Verse 2.

Shepherd the flock that is among you.

That's a picture word.

It doesn't need much explanation, does it?

Shepherding.

In the days of Jesus, mostly a shepherd would be in front

of the flock saying, come on, follow me.

And the flocks were small and not like broad agriculture

here in Australia, but the flocks were small, so that's

literally what happened.

They'd follow the shepherd.

But every so often the shepherd would need to be behind

them, driving them forward.

And the wisdom of the shepherd would be revealed in as much

as he knew which place to be at which time.

But his authority is always limited whatever he's doing

because he's an undershepherd.

An elder can only work with delegated authority

as one who will give account to Christ, the chief shepherd,

for those entrusted to our care.

So contrary to what some might think, that eldership is not

a blank card in terms of control and power.

I labor all the time under that concept of that I one day will

give an account for you people here in a way that you won't have

to give an account for one another.

That's a sobering thought.

In verses 2 and 3, attitude and modeling is critical,

fundamental, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.

Not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

It's not about me.

It's not about my remuneration.

It's not about my nest egg.

It's not about that which will advantage me.

It's about that which will be good for God's people.

And in a real sense,

my life has no account

before you other than that.

That's the nature of a servant.

Not domineering

over those

in your charge.

How easy is it

when you're in charge

to take charge

by manipulation,

by control,

by demandingness,

by being examples to the flock.

my job is to be a model

of grace

and a model of Christ

to those

you

whom the Lord has given me charge of.

Nothing more.

Nothing more.

Nothing more.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

And responsible for direct teaching

of God's word,

both formally when we meet,

informally through counseling

and personal interaction.

Responsible for active oversight

that is setting a lead

in a whole range of issues

which I call wisdom issues.

Issues that

may not necessarily have a verse

or a principle you can go to,

but you take a principle

and a verse

and you work out

then the application

and a wisdom base.

Well, I think this would be

a good thing for us

to do as a church.

That wouldn't be such a good thing

for us to do as a church.

And so as elders

we need to be able to identify

clear principles of scripture.

And then we need to be able

to propose

and encourage

and direct

and draw

people into

what's helpful

and wise,

practical applications,

strategies,

which will take us

all together

in a spiritually

healthy direction.

To put it in a

colloquial country term,

we just need to make sure

that the herd

is heading west.

And all of the herd

is heading west.

No stragglers

left behind.

We don't shoot

or are wounded.

We're responsible

to model clearly

what we teach

as a visual aid

for the congregation

to follow.

But all the while

recognizing

that as I'm called

to be a leader,

I'm never

more than a sheep.

My authority

is never

absolute.

My authority

is only ever

delegated

and is to be

exercised

in full awareness

of my ongoing

failure and sin.

So I have

very much

limited authority

under shepherds

of Christ.

And I tell you,

I think

the scripture

and I'm now

doing one of those

wisdom applications,

I think we can

only command

authority.

This has been

my ministry

experience

and my

ministry pattern.

I've only

tried to

command authority

not by virtue

of the office.

Now listen

here,

I'm an elder.

But by virtue

of my ability

to handle

scripture

and the strength

of my life

lived among you.

In all its

ups and

down points

I think that's

where respect

comes from.

And I don't

think I have a

right to command

respect solely

based on the

office.

Even though

lots of

leaders do.

That's another

one for you to

think about.

Now the big

question is how

do we balance

these two things,

eldership and

interconnectedness,

interdependency of

the body?

Well the heading

there on your

outline is servant

leadership in the

context of the

interdependent body.

And we're almost

finished if you're

despairing.

As an elder I

must lead.

That is my brief

from the chief

shepherd.

But always as a

servant.

Now those things

don't seem to fit

together if you

look at the

general operation

of a big

company.

But that's

exactly what we

have to fit

together here in

our local church.

My lead always

has to be as a

servant and always

therefore as a

servant for the

good of Christ's

people.

And never,

never to advance

my ideas or my

reputation.

And my success

will be measured

not in terms of

how great you

think I am,

popularity,

that's probably

just as well,

or how you

measure my

giftedness.

But in terms of

how well I

serve you by

pushing you into

the arms of the

Lord Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

For grace and

mercy.

And pushing you

to have a life

shaped by trust

and delight in

his beauty.

And as an

under-shepherd

going before you

and saying,

hey, follow me,

this is the good

life this way.

As an elder I

must press you,

actively press you

to live in the

light of God's

word individually

and in our

church family

life.

But I'm

never free

to be arrogant,

manipulative

or dismissive

of you.

Or to be

controlling.

Pushing you

around as

just pieces

of furniture

to be arranged

in a big room.

And sadly,

that's where

some leaders

fall.

Well,

but equally

true,

my leading

as an elder

does not

allow you

to be passive

in this

church family.

Our church

is not like

a bus

with one

driver

and everybody

else along

for the ride.

As part of

the body,

you must be

engaged

and you must

be doing

what the

Lord has

asked you

to do

in this

local

church family.

Friends,

what I'm

saying here

is that

the essence

of authority

distribution

is that

we must

not play

off one

command

against the

other.

We must

sync them

and have

them in

harmony.

You are

responsible for

the leaders

to accept,

submit to,

and relate

positively with

the elders

in this

church.

But of course,

that doesn't

mean you

can't disagree

with us

and challenge

us.

To have

one without

the other

would be

imbalanced.

Wise army

officers

will always

be open to

ideas and

suggestions

from the

soldiers.

I think

likewise,

godly,

wise elders

will welcome

challenge and

correction based

on God's

word.

wisdom or

welcome ideas

that come from

our collective

wisdom.

I hope you

know if you've

been in this

church long

enough that

we love that

bottom-up surge

of interest and

involvement and

ownership.

Collective

wisdom.

Friends,

this is a

really difficult

area.

It's difficult

to speak about.

It's been hard

for me to

actually talk

about this

this morning

without a

sense of

self-promotion.

It's a

difficult area,

but I'll tell

you this,

it's an area

that Satan

loves to

exploit.

He just

loves to

bring churches

undone over

this very

issue.

And he'll

be able to

do that in a

way he won't

be able to

prize us away

from theological

distinctives.

God's word.

God's word.

God's word.

God's word.

How do we

stand against

it?

By keeping

the bounds

of God's

word.

If we,

I,

am a

godly,

wise elder,

then I

will be

happy to

serve,

and I

will resist

any temptation

to dominate,

intimidate,

manipulate,

or treat

with derision.

Because that

would be at

odds with

serving you.

Likewise,

if you are

godly,

wise,

you will

not allow

yourself to

focus on

the short

faults and

the short

comings of

us elders.

We are but

sheep.

We are sinful

men.

When we

first became

elders,

the day we

take our

last breath

as an

elder,

we are

sinful,

failing

men.

So you

will not

allow yourself

to focus

simply on

our faults

and short

comings.

You will

speak into

our lives

to address

those faults

and short

comings,

and you're

invited to

do so.

You have

a compulsion

to do so

before the

chief shepherd

yourself.

You are

my keeper.

You cannot

simply reject

us when we

disagree with

you.

You cannot

simply withdraw

from us.

God

will

be at

odds

with

maintaining

deep

holiness

and love

and unity

in the

body of

Christ.

My

friends,

my final

sentence is

this.

Going to

either one

of these

extremes

will

seriously

weaken and

even threaten

our church.

The truth

is at both

extremes.

pray with

me again.

Lord,

help us

to avoid

building our

own little

empires.

It seems

to be the

thing we

just default

to all the

time.

We just

want to be

big fish

in small

ponds.

and we

fail,

Lord,

when we're

chasing that

dream,

we fail to

see how

ugly it

is.

And we

fail to

see,

Lord,

how grossly

it is

with the

very purpose

of you

dying for

a community

that would

be marked

by your

characteristic

of servanthood,

love,

and unity.

Help us to

care for one

another.

Help us to

encourage one

another.

help us to

submit to

one another.

And help us

to do all

these things,

Lord,

not for

personal gain

or acclamation,

but that

together we

might grow

up into

Christ and

be competent

and equipped

for every

good work.