The Revolution of Christian Elders

So on Friday an email went out to everybody that's a member, a regular

attender, and here in our church and it's announcing that we're now in a season

where we're electing new elders. And so if you didn't get that I'll say more

about how to make sure you do get that at the end of the service. But we wanted to

take a break from Mark this morning to think together about elders, about what

an elder is and what they do, especially as we all have the opportunity right now

for the next couple of weeks to nominate and elect new elders. So it's

important that we take a Sunday to look at this together. So we break from

Mark today to look at one of the famous little sections about eldership which is

in 1 Peter 5 and I want to look at two things this morning with you. First the

fact of elder that there is such a thing and then secondly at the

revolutionary call that Peter gives here to the eldership, how Christ changes

what it means to be a leader. So let's do that together first the fact of

elder. Alright so first one Peter says I exhort the elders among you and if you

look at chapter one Peter says that he's writing this letter to people in

Pontus, Asia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Bithnia, a lot of places that covers a lot of

territory mostly what we would see today as turkey and that means Peter's

talking to a ton of churches not just one this is a circular letter and the

very first thing he does is when he gets to chapter five he assumes that there

are elders in every one of these churches. So he says I'm talking to the

elders among you meaning hundreds of churches that have been planted across

Asia at this point I'm talking to all the elders meaning that everywhere the

apostles went Peter knows they did the same thing every time they chose

elders and that means that he's saying this is the model this is the model that

the apostles carried forth into the world and he says I'm even one of these

elders he says I'm both an apostle and an elder so he's saying I witnessed the

resurrection of Jesus Christ I'm an apostle but he knew that the apostles

were not gonna last forever that there would come a day 30 40 50 years from

this moment where the apostles will be gone and so his expectation is that the

churches will be governed and led by elders and that was the norm all across

the apostolic witness in the in the first century the word here for elder

is the word presbyter in Greek and so it's where we get our word presbyterian

so we talk about a presbyterian form of church government which is what we have

which is just basically ruled by elders and we see here that the model from the

very beginning was to be presbyterian and if you flip over to Revelation chapter

Revelation 4:4

4 verse 4 it says that when John's looking into heaven he sees this vision

Jesus is there and around Jesus there's a council 24 seats with 24 elders and

that means in the Bible we see that the church is presbyterian and that heaven's

presbyterian and that that's the model in both places that we just model after

the picture that we see in heaven and let me let me give you two takeaways

why this is important one is this simply to say again what we're doing we when we

elect and nominate new elders is that we're simply trying to be biblical

actually we're just trying to follow the model of Scripture the model that God's

given us and you can see this when you if you flip through the Old Testament and

the New Testament and look for the concept of elder you can go all the way

back to Deuteronomy 21 and 22 where anytime you have God's people being

established as a community God says use elders and so Moses designated elders

in Deuteronomy 21 and 22 or later King David had a council of elders that helped

him rule the people of God and the Old Testament or even after that in the

first century every single Jewish village was ruled run by elders every

single synagogue before Jesus came was run and ruled by elders you get to about

ten years after probably the last Apostles death John the very earliest

piece of writing we have extra biblical writing Christian piece of writing is a

letter from a guy named first from Clement first Clemens the letter and in

it Clement talks about how and across the the Roman Empire the Apostles went

appointing approved men elders with the consent of the church and so all the way

from the Old Testament all the way through the first century after the

Apostles die and through the book of Acts and everywhere else we see this

happening over and over and over and over again and we see very clearly that

this is the model that God's given us now the second takeaway is this it's so

important to say that this is the model the biblical model because lots of

people have abandoned the idea of eldership and even of the institutional

church altogether in recent years especially as of late one associate

there's a sociologist in the States named Ryan Burge he's also a pastor and

he's done a lot of work trying to gather data on people leaving the church

leaving the church in droves both in the UK and Europe earlier and then also

currently the US and one of the things that he says over and over again is one

of the peace reasons people are leaving churches is because of a high level of

institutional suspicion that people are incredibly suspicious in the 21st century

of institutions and that's the church that's the business that's banks that's

everything people are institutionally suspicious and one of the reasons for

that is because we're individuals we're individualists and so when you prize the

individual over the community over the collective as we do and then you take the

very good reason for leaving which is so much institutional corruption and you

put those together and people are flocking running away from the from the

old systems the old flocks and the there's good reason for that because you

can turn on religious news all the time and see that in the church just like in

the culture at large what you always see people abdicating leadership through

great moral error or abusing their power and we have a new phrase to coin for

this it's called spiritual abuse and it's very real it happens all the time and

so people often are leaving the church and abandoning the eldership model the

leadership model because they say it corrupts power corrupts now the important

thing to see here is to come today and say it's always been that way this is

nothing new and at the same time the Bible says nevertheless this is the

model be biblical and so Peter's giving an incredible revolutionary call here

that says the way we deal with this problem is by rethinking what an elder

is which is exactly what he's doing in this passage we have text from a pastor

in the fourth century James name John Chrysostom and he talks about this

problem in the late 300s he says he had a view of priests and bishops a little

different from us but this is what he says he says the priests are all

infected with greed their power hungry they don't care for anybody and I don't

think the many bishops will ever be saved he says I don't think I'll see too

many of the bishops in heaven all right so we say this is such a problem in the

21st century but it's always because we're talking about humans and so whether

you're in the church or outside of the church we tend to abuse institutional

power and that's exactly actually what Peter's coming to deal with right here

Peter says revolutionary call on the one hand don't abdicate the office don't

don't give up on the model because this is the model God's given and at the

other hand on the other hand he says to the elders to you elders and you

candidates listen to the revolutionary call that I'm about to give you now let

me summarize it for you in just one word before we dig into it a little more

if you look at Paul's list for eldership 1st Timothy 3 Titus 1 he gives you these

lists of characteristics what do you have to be to qualify how should an

elder live and here's some of the ones he lists in both places he says above

reproach sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable not a drunkard

not violent gentle not coralsome not addicted to money well thought of by

non-christians only one category one qualifying qualification that Paul

goes has to do with talent or gift only one and it's the ability to teach or the

ability to communicate the Apostles teaching to other people at a 12 to 1

ratio overwhelmingly all that he talks about is character he says you know you

need to be able to teach God's word to some degree but the big thing is

character character character 12 times he says it versus the one time where he

talks about one gift and that's it he says eldership is the model character is

the aspiration it's what protects the office and keeps it from falling apart

right so Peter here is going to give us a revolutionary call to eldership and

let's look at it secondly it comes to us in three ways three ways three

revolution revolutionary calls if you will and the first one is this he says

in verse three that elders are to be examples and that's revolutionary why you

see it in verse three he says elders are to be not domineering but instead

examples and the reason it's revolutionary is because he's addressing

something very specific very common in the first century leaders often

dominated and the word domineering or to dominate here has the the sense of a

master-slave type relationship so leaders often took up power and became

masterlike in the midst of subordinates the young as he puts it in verse five

and treated them like servants like like slaves in the midst of all kinds of

forms of leadership c.s. Lewis commenting on this says of all the bad men

religious bad men are the worst and that's exactly actually what what Peter's

saying as well you don't have to leave the Bible to know that because Jesus

Jesus talked about this he talked about the condition of religious leaders who

dominate who oppress and he said in Matthew 23 verse 4 he said the religious

Matthew 23:4

leaders put heavy burdens on the people's shoulders and they won't do the

stuff themselves so he says one one of the ways is that religious leaders tend

to dominate by trying to put burdens on people in other words creating new forms

of sin and saying that if you don't obey me if you don't follow me to the letter

then you're not truly following God so in other words they create new ideas new

theology different ways of sinning that aren't actually even in the scriptures

and they use it to lord it over people in other words the word for dominate here

is basically this whenever an elder a leader a pastor a minister a Pharisee

whoever it might be in any religious community says ultimately follow me

that's why this is such a revolution you see he says elders aren't called to ever

say follow me they're called to be examples and that's the heart of the

revolution see domineering or domination is when a leader says do like me

follow me in other words do what I say or you're not truly following God so a

dominating elder a dominating leader takes the focus away from Jesus Christ

ultimately and puts it on him on themselves and Jesus says it that it's

not only a problem in the church in the religious community but he talks about

it outside too he says in Matthew 25 Gentile rulers dominate their people he

says Gentile rulers lord over their people but not so with you and he's

talking there to the Apostles he's saying do not look at the model of the

Pharisees do not look at the model of the common ruler he says that's not it at

all in the church both tend to dominate their people but you can't do that you

have to and then he says you have to be the servant of all which in the the

Greek word there is slave you have to actually be the one that goes low if you

want to seek a high office you've got to go and become the lowest in the midst of

the people and so he's saying there's no no no reward in this life ultimately no

power no prestige as you can see how he puts it in verse 2 part b he says don't

do it under compulsion but willingly as God would have you nor for shameful

gain but eagerly and he's saying there that there's plenty of leaders all around

you that are leaders because they want shameful gain so he's talking about

actual first century stuff where an elder of a synagogue an elder of a city

was paid really handsomely and they were in charge of building they owned the

properties ultimately it was given over to them they were in charge of the

educational system the elders in the synagogue were typically over the

hospitals some type of system of health care they were in charge of things like

that they had access to the buildings health care education money they gathered

the temple tax they gathered the synagogue tax and he's saying oh boy that

is a hotbed of temptation and people pursue eldership in that context for

shameful gain so he's he's addressing something very real and very direct and

he's saying the church can never be like that elder can never pursue it because

they want power prestige or money and I can promise you that no elder in this

church ever pursues eldership for money that's one thing that we can guarantee

they don't get paid and the ministers don't pursue it for money either you

can't that's not how it works at all but he's saying but neither power nor

prestige it can't be I've been here for 25 years therefore I should be a count it

can't be biological bloodline financial none of it he's saying that that none of

that can be the way and instead he says the eldership is meant for

example now here's how that's such a revolution domination says follow me be

like me and tries to control whereas example in says I am here to help you

follow somebody else the only thing I exist for is not to ever say follow me

but to say follow him follow Jesus Christ and I and I only come as a model as a

as a person who stands next to somebody the elder I'm saying and says let me help

you follow Jesus don't listen to me I just want to help you follow Jesus that's

what he's saying that's the revolution he's saying to all the leaders in the

first century you're you only exist to lead people to the green grass and

that's Jesus Christ that's all you exist for ultimately the implication is this

and we'll move on and this is very important if the eldership is an office

of example trying to help people see what it means to follow Christ then that

means that the ministry is actually just the same for everybody you see if an

elder is nothing but an example if leadership is nothing but

example following Jesus then that means we're all just called to the same thing

following Jesus and the elder exists to do nothing else but help people

ultimately do that in the end the revolution is that they're not there

for power or prestige or money none of that it's it's simply the service of

saying I'll get into the mess with you and walk beside you as you try to follow

Christ we'll just do it together that's the revolution here now the second

revolutionary call of three is not only that the elder is called to be an example

but then he tells us more specifically what that looks like and he says it in

verse 2 that they're meant to be shepherds so the way they're to example is

very specifically to be shepherds and that's a of course a metaphor the

metaphor that Peter chooses here he says shepherd the flock of God exercising

oversight now Scotland is one of the few places where this metaphor works if you

preach on shepherd the image of the shepherd in most places throughout the

entire world in 2023 people can't actually get a good picture of what's

being said but here in Scotland of course we can and many of you know

shepherding and sheep way better than I do but the reason is because you can

drive through the Highlands and you know you can see a flock of sheep that have

come out into the road single track road and you desperately need them to move

and half the time what do they do they just sit there and it's because you

realize it I'm not a shepherd but I realized very quickly driving through

the Highlands sheep or dumb that's the principal message actually sheep or

dumb and you know throughout the Old Testament and New Testament over and

over and over again the Bible keeps using the image that God is the shepherd

and we're the sheep and this is to put it a little crudely I admit but it's

really to try to get across the emphasis that we are spiritually dumb a better

way to say it we're helpless and you know if you're around sheep at all which

haven't been that much but a little bit you realize sheep are incredibly

helpless they're they're help they're they're so dependent on the shepherd and

so here Peter comes and says well that's actually the image is that God has

given shepherds now what he's not saying is that the elders among you are the

smart spiritual people and you're the dumb spiritual people not at all

actually he's saying here the elders are the first sheep so in verse 4 he says

they they all understand that they have a chief shepherd that's what he says in

verse 4 meaning every single elder qualifies first by being best above all

and knowing how much of a sheep they really are being willing to sing to him

come thou fount of every blessing and you get to the line prone to wander Lord I

feel it meaning written about sheep prone to wander away sheep wander and

that's what the elder sings and says first they know I'm I'm a sheep of the

cheap chief shepherd and in that I'm able to be what many have called an

under shepherd that's the image we're being given here think about who's

writing this Peter knows that he's not smear spiritually smart he Peter abandoned

Jesus Christ Peter committed treason against Jesus Christ he rejected Jesus

he told Jesus that he wouldn't let the plan go forward and it's Peter writing

this he knows what he's really like and yet he's a shepherd of the sheep an

under shepherd now Harold sink bile a writer who wrote a book called the the

care of souls about eldership and pastoring he is really helpful because

he says that maybe an even more helpful metaphor than shepherd and under

shepherds chief shepherd Jesus under shepherd is the shepherd Jesus and the

sheep dog so elders are like sheep dogs and if you've ever seen a sheep dog

operate you know that they do they do two things they sink by alright he says

they give their both ears to the master so whenever they're running around

hurting and corralling the sheep both ears are attuned to the master but their

eyes are on the sheep and that's the image of the elder that their ears are

attuned to the master servants and their eyes are on the sheep trying to help the

sheep and one writer Evelyn Underhill she wrote a book called the teacher's

vocation where she observed sheep dogs in action and this is what she says about

it the dog was a docile and faithful agent of another's mind he used his

intelligence but he always did it in obedience to the master's will the

little mountain sheep he had to deal with were exceedingly tiresome experts and

going the wrong way even so the dog went steadily on with it the dog's

relation to the shepherd was the center of his life and because of that he

enjoyed doing his job for the sheep he was working for something not his of

his own not not his own the whole of which he could understand or grasp but

that was exactly the source of his delight so she's saying the dog works

for the master tire tirelessly not even understanding what was happening

couldn't even quite what are we actually doing with these sheep he didn't even

quite understand the big picture not at all and yet that was exactly his joy

the dog's joy just to shepherd the sheep as the will of the master not knowing

the big picture not knowing how it would go not knowing what would happen in

other words he's saying the elder's job the minister's job is to tire tirelessly

care for the sheep and not really know the big picture not really know what's

happening it really is one of the sheep himself and that gives us such an

helpful a helpful image because it tells you the two classical things people

have said century after century about what an elder does the sheepdog is a

great image because the elder first we've always said this in Christian

history first the elder's job is to guard and protect the image of the sheepdog

or the shepherd with the staff to guard and protect you can scan your eyes down

just quickly at verse 8 and Peter just a few verses later says be sober minded

be watchful he's talking to the elders be watchful because your adversary the

devil prowls around like a roaring lion so he extends this image of shepherd and

says Satan is prowling around God's people like a roaring lion and you're he

says the first thing is you are to guard and protect you're a sheepdog and when

the lion the bear the wolf whatever metaphor comes along your job is to

actually protect the people and so Christian theologians have talked about

it in a couple ways they've said that the job of the elder is first to guard or

protect the deposit of the apostles which is the gospel itself and so the

first way that they beat away the lion that the tempter is they protect the

gospel and so they're first to be actually theologians they're to care

about true teaching and false teaching they're to protect the people because

they protect the gospel but then secondly the other aspect of this is that

they then use that gospel to protect the hearts of the people the church whenever

they're being tempted and so for every single one of us if you're a Christian

today of the lion the lion the world the flesh and the devil comes into your life

at different times and says God is not what you thought he's not good leave the

faith you know if you were to leave the faith you could be with any person you

wanted to be with if you were to leave the faith you know science and faith

just don't ultimately they're not compatible in the end the lion the wolf

the bear comes into your life into your heart through all manner of temptation

and tries to get you to walk away over and over and over and over again and

God says I'm sending out the sheep dogs to try to guard and protect you with

what they're guarding which is the gospel itself the gospel message itself now

that's the negative side then there's a positive side and we'll move on and the

positive side the positive side is this that Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd he

takes me out of the valley of death and leads me to still waters by green grass

beautiful pastures you see the positive side the pot is the positive side of the

under shepherd is to then say I protect you and then I take you to the green

grass and the green grass is just Jesus to say don't follow me I'm just trying

to help you find the green grass again every time you're tempted to say I'm

not sure science and faith are compatible I'm not sure that God is

actually good I'm not sure I can get through this how could evil exist and

God be good at the same time the under shepherd the sheep dog says let me show

you the green grass again let me take you back to the truth over and over and

over again now we've got to move on to the last thing but let me close the

second revolutionary call by saying this remember the elder is an example

meaning that this is actually just everybody's job he's he's just a leader

among equals all called to the same exact thing all of us are called to come

alongside of sheep dogs to each other to one another and mutual love and say let

me take you back to the green grass to come alongside a friend a Christian

friend in the congregation and say I see that you're you're you're walking away

you're you're chasing after these things this is not gonna fulfill you this is

not it you think it's it but this is not it let me take you back to the green

grass that's the elder's job as a leader among equals but it's everybody's

ministry elders called the same exact thing that everybody else is but as as

a leader as a model in the midst of that ministry and that means that an elder

like everybody else is a sinner a helpless sheep in desperate need of

spiritual power so that they don't walk away from the green grass themselves and

that that leaves us with a question and the biggest question of the passage

might be this where do you find the spiritual power to be an elder elders

well the answer is the exact same thing where where do you find the power to

even be a sheep at all and you remember Psalm 23 the great Psalm the Lord is my

shepherd that God is the good shepherd of the sheep and then you come to the

Gospels and Jesus and John chapter 10 stands up in the midst of the Apostles and

John 10 · chapter mention

says I am the good shepherd I am the God of Psalm 23 and we we learned

immediately that the good shepherd the shepherd of the sheep of the Old Testament

came into history and took on flesh and he's standing right there the Lord has

become the good shepherd in this human Jesus Christ and there were he's so close

but that that not even that is the end of the story of spiritual power where

does it really come from and it's this that in the beginning of the gospel when

Jesus first showed up in John chapter 1 John the Baptist opened his mouth the

John 1 · chapter mention

first time he saw Jesus the good shepherd and said what behold the lamb of

God who takes away the sins of the world you see the power to be an elder is the

same as the power to be a Christian and it's to see that the good shepherd came

into history but he didn't stay the shepherd he became the lamb he became

the sheep the sheep are helpless the sheep are spiritually dumb Jesus Christ

came to become the lamb in other words you see what he's saying he's saying

that he took on everything that we are he took on what's wrong with us the

spiritual power an elder needs to be a good elder is the same a Christian needs

to be a Christian and that's to see that Jesus Christ was the lamb for you that

went to the slaughter that's how Isaiah puts it in it's quite crude but it's

true that's the heart of spiritual power it's nothing but saying oh boy in his

when Jesus was slaughtered as the as the lamb of God there's my power grace was

poured upon me that's the green grass it's him it's what he did for me it's

what he came to do for me and that's the real secret to all of this that's the

revolutionary call that Jesus changed leadership forever that it became all

about the cross it became all about him and that means that elders aren't

personless not even close instead what we might say as elders are meant to be

true Christians and what's a true Christian a true Christian as a person

who knows how desperately they need the grace of the lamb of God now let me

close finally with the third revolutionary call and very briefly and in

light of all that this is how Peter wraps it up he says in verse 5 likewise you

who are younger which is not just young and age but you who are not an elder so

anybody that's not a leader be subject to the elders and then he says this

clothe yourself with humility all of you toward one another now Peter ends it in

the modern world in the 20 in 2023 you might not catch it but in the first

century he ends it with something that's truly revolutionary he turns to the

people that are under the leadership of the elders and says yes you're subject to

the elders authority and he says but to all of you elders and people be subject

to one another in humility the world had never seen anything like that before

when Peter writes writes this right here remember that in the first century

even in the midst of Judaism in the midst of the synagogues and the Jewish

leadership of the towns elders had had nearly absolute right over the people

they own the buildings they ran the educational system they were in charge of

the health care they were paid very well they gathered the temple tax all of

this and Peter's coming and saying not anymore not after Jesus it's got to

change and he says here's the revolution actually all of you are just in

mutual subjection to one another that you're just you're commonly and equally

humble before one another that that's the revolution now let me give you two

ways that this works out and we'll finish the first is in 1st Timothy 5 so

Paul says the same thing in 1st Timothy 5 and there he says that he says this

that the role of elder sometimes is to come alongside somebody and tell them

that they're really concerned for them that this is the path of discipleship

and elders sometimes does in the church need to come to church members and say

I'm worried about where you're going I'm worried about something you're

believing I'm worried about a pattern of your life a direction that you've been

heading I'm worried that you may be walking away from Jesus and that's not

spiritual abuse not at all not it when it's done in love that's that's actually

the call the call not only of the elder but of all of us to each other sometimes

that happens but 1st Timothy 5 verse 17 Paul does something he says and the

elders are to be subject to the people and therefore if anybody has a complaint

has a concern all they have to do is gather one other person and come and

speak and say to the elder I'm worried about where you're going I'm worried

about you walking away from Jesus I'm worried about the path of life you've

been living I'm worried about something you've been teaching and that had never

happened before you see he's saying it actually now goes both directions that

elders are chosen to shepherd and model and lead people back to the green grass

but sometimes the people are also called to lead the elder back to the green

grass and that it works in both directions it's mutual it's mutual

humility he says now the second thing and here's the important bit that that

means that he's calling on the church to be a space a culture of mutual love in

every direction he says so be humble all of you before one another elders

deacons women pastoral women's pastoral team members regular attenders

visitors he says it's comprehensive everybody just be mutually humble

subjecting yourself to each other in every single direction whatever the

relationship might go however it might be it doesn't matter in every direction

and that means he's saying never allow for a culture of hyper criticism never

allow for a culture of abuse spiritual abuse none of that in every direction

instead the paradigm is this character humility truth and love so keep short

accounts understand that there's always gonna be we're always gonna struggle with

one another to some degree but keep a short account because the paradigm is

humility character love it's a culture ultimately of trust in every single

direction remembering remembering that we all we all actually share just share

the same ministry and the ministry is nothing but this helping one another to

get to the end of our days believing in Jesus Christ that's the mutual ministry

and it's as simple as that I'll close with this one pastor was talking about

this mutual humility idea that we see in Peter and he says what does this look

like in other words he asked the question out where where should you look

for an elder in your church according to first Peter 5 verse 5 and this is what

1 Peter 5:5

he says he says on the one hand they're guarding the deposit of the faith you

know on the one hand they're over here they're reading John Calvin they're

reading people named Bob Inc. you know they're they're they're reading theology

they're they're loving the Bible they're getting into the word they're trying to

understand more and more of what's been given to us through the apostles all the

time that's the one hand on the other hand they're taking out the trash they're

in the crash they're in kids church they're cleaning up after the service

they're praying with the sick they're sitting at the hospital bed they're

holding the hand of the dying they're playing with the children it's both

and that's mutual humility that in every direction love in every direction

humility and so the universal call is simply this our church St. Columbus will

always will always by the spirit grow and grow and grow in health spiritual

health in so far as in every single direction no matter what role anybody

plays in the church we are putting on the clothing that Peter says here the

clothing of humility towards one another the clothing that the great shepherd of

the sheep put on when he became the lamb that that's the model for healthy

church let's pray together father we ask Lord that you would gift us all with

humility and with love and with trust and we ask for that because Lord we want

we long to be guided by the Holy Spirit in the way that we shepherd one another

towards the finish line so Lord you say that the reward is not in this life

verse 4 that but it's an unfading crown of glory that is yet to come and so help

us today especially as leaders for me for all of us who are leaders Lord I pray

for them and lift them before you and ask this morning that they would be

renewed in the call the call to not love anything but helping people find the

green grass Jesus that's you we know that's you and so we pray Lord that you

would give us grace help us to forgive one another as we of course fall short of

this and give us great wisdom as we seek new elders in this coming season and we

pray for this in Christ's name Amen