Pastor | Under the Chief Shepherd | Hebrews 13:17 | Ep.2

Welcome to Preaching from Bryce and Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's Word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you're not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

Good morning, BBC.

What a privilege it is to be here with this morning.

To those online, welcome.

A special morning, a special word from me too just for Women's Day.

Happy Women's Day.

It really is a privilege to have you here in our church and what you mean to us.

So I'm going to start off by telling you a story.

I was in grade six.

It was a Monday afternoon between cricket practice and choir practice.

I had just finished my lunch and had an empty sandwich bag.

My friend and I looked at the sandwich bag.

We looked up at the flagpole, looked down at the sandwich bag, looked back up at the flagpole, and decided it would be a good idea to try and hoist the sandwich bag up the flagpole.

We had friends who told us that that would be a terrible idea.

But who listens to boring friends?

What's the worst that could happen?

We could just have a good laugh.

Well, the bag went up beautifully.

So beautifully that when we gave it that last little tug, it got stuck.

And I mean properly stuck.

No matter what we tried, that bag was not coming down.

And then, if it wasn't bad enough, the headmaster decided that it was a good time for him to go home for the day.

And he had to walk straight past this flagpole.

So he did what all great six boys would do with integrity, walk up to him, confess our sins, and ask what our punishment would be.

That is not what happened.

We chose the other human response.

We ran and we ran fast.

Thankfully, he didn't notice this bag at the top of the flagpole as he left to go home for the day.

But I knew something he didn't.

That night I did not sleep a wink.

It was eating me alive.

But then driving to school, I had a plan.

I was gonna tell my mom, and she was going to fix it because moms always fix things.

We drove into school, we parked the car, and she marched me straight into the headmaster's office and made me confess to what I had done.

She stood right beside me.

I looked at her.

She had betrayed me.

Looking back, she didn't betray me.

She loved me too much for me to live in guilt.

When you're young, authority can often seem to be sort of a little bit of a burden, something you don't really want to submit to.

And let's be honest, church, even us as adults, authority isn't something that's really nice.

Would it be at work?

Would it be at home?

Or would it be even here at church?

This is why Hebrews 13 verse 17 is so difficult and makes us so uncomfortable.

Hebrews 13:17

As soon as Dave read the verse, I could feel uh obey your leaders and submit to them.

In our day and age, that can sometimes feel a little bit countercultural.

We always question who should have that kind of authority over me.

Why should I listen to them?

Coming back to my story.

My mom is an authority figure in my life.

She knew it wasn't about the sandwich bag that got stuck.

But she knew that allowing me to confess, she was pasturing me so and setting me free from the lie and deceit that could have developed.

Guys, unfortunately, there were consequences for my actions, but there were no consequences for my soul.

For us to understand this verse better, I feel we need to understand the context where this verse was written in.

It was written to Jewish believers who were under immense pressure.

Hebrews 10 tells us that they had been publicly shamed.

Their property was taken away from them.

Following Jesus was costing them everything, and it would have been a lot easier to just pack it all in and go back to what we believed and did before.

So the author of Hebrews knew that the believers were under pressure.

The verse here is an encouragement not to drift, it's to hold fast, and you hold fast by doing this under the shepherds that God has appointed.

So this verse was never a power grab, it was a lifeline to the people that were in danger of floating away.

Church, this verse is exactly what it means to us today.

It is a lifeline to us.

So the big idea I want us to see this morning is that being pastored by elders of this church who was appointed by and who points to Jesus is not a joy, it's not a loss of freedom.

It is actually God's design for our flourishing.

The writer of Hebrews is going to show this to us in two ways.

He points out elders that watch over us, and he shows us obedience that works for us.

So let's dig a little deeper.

Point one elders who watch over us, over you.

Let's look at this verse again.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.

If I had to ask you right now, what do the elders here at BBC do?

You would probably say they run the church, they have meetings, they plan budgets.

They're the guys up on front in front on a Sunday morning sharing God's word.

But that is true, but what it's not quite the job description that Hebrews gives us.

Hebrews says that elders keep watch over our souls, not just our attendance, not just our giving, our souls.

So, how do we as elders actually watch over the flock week in and week out?

This is done by pasturing the flock.

Pastoring that guards, pasturing that feeds, pasturing that leads, and pasturing that guards.

There are many other ways, but these are the ones I want to focus on today.

So let's look at how elders pastor by guarding the flock.

When Paul says goodbye to the elders in Ephesus, he warns them that after he leaves, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and that even from among their own number, men will arise speaking twisted things.

Let's dwell on that one word: sparing.

Wolves don't spare, shepherds do.

Guarding is not a cold, defensive posture.

It is a dad standing in the doorway, protecting what he loves inside his house.

So, how does Paul tell the Ephesians elders to guard to guard and protect these false against these false teachings?

I commend you to God and to the word of his grace.

The watching over our souls happens through the word of God, the Bible.

We as elders need to guard the flock by making sure that every Sunday the biblical gospel truth is taught from this pulpit.

But guarding is only part of the picture.

Pastoring is not only about keeping the danger out, it is also about putting something good in.

And that is feeding.

Elders pastor the flock by feeding them through the word.

Paul says, Christ gave the church shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

Shepherds and teachers, one heart, one job.

As shepherds, we don't, a shepherd doesn't feed the flock just because it's something they need to take tick off on a checklist.

If shepherds don't make sure the sheep are fed, they will starve.

So we as elders don't only stand at the door protecting the flock, but we also feed the flock so that they can grow spiritually and draw closer to Jesus by hearing the word.

Then elders pastor by leading the flock.

The flock don't need protecting and feeding, they also need direction.

Hebrews tells us, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way and imitate their faith.

Leadership here is not about control, it is about direction.

Pointing the flock to Jesus and guiding them and guiding them in their faith.

And elders pass to the flock by caring for them.

Care does mean to be looked after, but it also means that you need to be willing to speak into lives that drift.

Real care isn't just comfort, it is also correction.

Elders who truly care for the soul of the flock will not stay silent when the flock wanders from Jesus.

They will lovingly, humbly come and speak to you because elders would rather hear you hear a hard word now than one day not having said it and having to give in an account.

The phrase given an account is exactly what the verse points to.

Elders watch over the souls of the flock, but they also have to give in an account.

And that tells us something very, very important.

Elders are not at the top of the chain.

Elders are under not a committee, not a denomination, but they are under God.

The late Tim Keller said the surprising thing about biblical elders is who they are not.

They are not celebrities, they are not charismatic personalities building platforms, they are simply faithful, accountable men who know that one day we will stand before the living God and answer one question.

How well did you watch over the souls I placed in your care?

So that is my first point.

You have elders who watch over you, and that part falls squarely on the shoulders of us as the elders.

But the verse is two sides, and the second falls on that of the flock, the elders included.

And to my second point, obedience that works for you.

I have Waze on my phone, it is a GPS navigation tool, and I use it quite regularly, but as a competent South African man, I always sort of think, hmm, I can beat Waze.

I have grown up in Johannesburg my whole life, so I know these roads.

So if Waze tells me take the highway, I go, nope.

I'll take other roads.

When Waze tells me it's gonna take you 20 minutes, I'm sure I can get there in 15.

Yeah, but when I lose these challenges, they are all too often not such a silent voice coming from the passenger's seat.

Babes, why couldn't you listen to Waze?

We could have been there by now if you'd only listen.

Church, isn't it just like us?

We think we know best, we think we can do it on our own.

We're quite sure nobody, not even Waze, needs to tell us what to do.

The thing about taking our own roots is often gets us into terrible places, often a lot later, more time consuming, more stressful than it ever needed to be.

Which brings us back to the beginning of verse 17.

Obey your leaders and submit to them.

Church, we need to be careful here because the English word obey makes us think that it's simply we simply need to take orders and comply.

Yes, sir, captain, sir.

It sounds like doing things, being told what to do without the opportunity to question why.

But the word the writer uses here is Greek, it's pathos, which means to be persuaded or to be convinced.

Hebrews doesn't want us to switch off our minds and simply comply, it's calling us to be persuadable and teachable and willing to be convinced by the word of God that is faithfully being tortured by the elders at church.

The second sand out word in the sentence is submit, it means to yield, to give way.

Let's think about a typical four-way stop.

Bad example here in Joburg, but it does prove my point.

One car is supposed to yield to another, and if they don't, it creates a Monday morning.

Chaos, uncertainty, disorganization, and often frustration.

But if it worked like it should, one car should yield to another.

Not because that car is more important or has a more important person in it, but it creates continuous flow.

So if we put these words together, it's not asking for blind compliance, it is asking for a posture that is teachable and reachable.

The question this verse puts to every single one of us is not do we agree with everything the elders have to say.

The question is, am I a sheep that can be taught and reached?

Or am I a sheep that had drifted away and just never told anybody?

Because some of us carry bruises from bad leaders, submitting and obeying can be difficult.

And I speak out of personal experience.

I have always struggled to let's put it to you this way: I fear authority, I don't necessarily respect it, and because of hers caused by a work leader, I continuously pray to God, and it is something that I submit to God on a daily basis, and he points it out to me regularly that not all leaders are like that.

What this verse is pointing us to is to follow leaders that point to Jesus.

They speak the word of God and they display a faith that we can imitate.

The only leaders scripture commends are those that point us to Jesus.

An elder who points himself to who points towards himself steps out of this pattern.

Scripture has never asked for you to submit to an ego, rather, it calls to follow leaders that follow Christ because they are pointing to him.

So, why should I gladly obey and submit to our leaders?

It's wonderful to know they watch over my soul.

They'll one day have to give an account, but what's in it for me?

The end of the verse answers that question.

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.

The Greek word here is aloeteles, translated as no advantage.

It's a business term, it literally means unprofitable or paying its way.

It's a beautiful piece of understatement because the writer here could have been a lot more severe.

He just simply said it will not pay off.

Not for the elders, but for you and for me.

Can you see the turn here?

We are tempted to think that a resistant, arms folded, keep elders at an arm's length kind of church membership is impacting the elders.

It's not.

It is costing us, it is costing you, and it is costing me.

The elders will still give an account, they will still be watching over your soul, but their pastoring can never reach a soul.

That refuses to be reachable.

Our obedience to elders is not a type of tax we pay to leadership.

Rather, it is a channel through which care arrives.

Hebrews 13, verse 17 is not God looking to restrict our freedom.

Hebrews 13:17

This verse is about protecting us.

Real freedom is never the absence of guidance.

Real freedom is flourishing under the right pastoring.

So we have seen the role of elders pastoring the flock, keeping watch over the flock, and needing to give an account.

We have seen that yielding to leadership is for our good.

But every elder that we have spoken about this morning, they are also sheep.

Chosen by God to serve as under-shepherds.

And because we are sheep, we are also men.

Men who have blind spots, men who don't get it right, men who sin, men who inadvertently may have caused hurt.

And we are sorry for that.

But we can all depend on one thing: the chief shepherd who died for us.

Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.

Here Jesus is called the great shepherd.

Every earthly elder needs to answer and reflect to, and need to reflect.

All the way to the cross.

This is obedience and submission that went all the way to the cross.

But a dead shepherd cannot watch over anyone.

Jesus died on the cross and he rose from the dead.

He has conquered sin and death.

He's not lying in a grave somewhere.

He is alive and now is preparing a place for you and for me in his father's house.

So what does it look like to be pastored by the great shepherd?

It looks like trusting a shepherd who never sleeps.

A shepherd who keeps calling us back to him, no matter how many times we have drifted away.

A shepherd that will call when we take our own roots.

Elders who watch over us, obedience that works for us, and a chief shepherd who obeyed and submitted first and died for us.

So as I close this morning, I have a few questions for you to ponder.

As fellow Christians, where do you need protection, feeding, leading, and care from the elders?

Where do you need to make yourself reachable and teachable?

Where do you need to let an let an elder into your life to pastor into it instead of trying to manage it on its own, on your own?

Where do you need to make it a joy for elders to watch over your soul?

Where do you need to submit to God and follow the route He has planned for you instead of insisting taking your own route?

But if you are here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus, and underneath everything going on in your life, you feel lost.

So whoever believes in him will have eternal life.

What will it take for you to believe?

Would you consider signing up for the Alpha Course at the end of this service?

We are now going to spend a few minutes in prayer as the worship team comes up.

I would like to encourage you to contemplate these questions.

If you have questions about what you've heard or would like to find out more about the Christian faith, we'd love to hear from you.

You can visit our website or reach out using the contact details below.

God bless you.