 Ephesians chapter four, and the sermon is, and he gave some to be pastors. He gave some to be pastors. And we find that verse there, that phrase in Ephesians chapter four, beginning in verse 11, when the Lord is talking about giving gifts to his church. Now, it's interesting as we talk about this, as we begin this discussion this morning on how we organize the church. We talked about having a sermon that discusses our church government, and so I wanna keep my commitment to you and preach that to you this morning. So we're gonna find out about how churches are to be organized. We're gonna learn about our church government and how that's to operate. It's very interesting to me, in light of what we've been talking about, and especially with our brother's exhortation and evangelism this morning, is that Ephesians chapter four, the Bible says that God gave these gifts, these leaders, these elders, to the church for the purpose, not that they would do all the work themselves, right? But that they would equip the people of God to do the ministry of God, to do the work of the ministry. And it's also very interesting to me as you follow that passage throughout the paragraph, as you get down to verse 12, he gave these pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to a unity of the faith. Now as you go on, look at verse 14. This also serves another purpose that I think has special significance for us that I want to remind you of and reiterate to you right now. Verse 14, those pastors, those teachers, those evangelists in the church, those gifted brothers and sisters were given by God, verse 14, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Now we go through trials in the church. We've seen the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting men among us. Have we not? But the Lord gives, the Lord blesses His church with older men, older women, who can teach younger men, younger women, right? The Lord blesses the church with godly brothers and sisters who know the word of God, so that you can be disciple, so that you can be taught, so that you can be edified, so that you can grow up in the faith so that you and I don't respond any longer like children. We're not tossed to and fro when these things come upon us, but we know the word of God. We've been taught the word of God. We have godly brothers and sisters among us that we can stand fast when the trial hits. Amen. Though it's a gift, the Lord is gracious to us. And I'm telling you what, the Lord has been incredibly gracious to our church. You can't walk through the halls around here, mainly because we've got so many people, you're gonna be bumping into people all the time, but you can't walk the halls of this building without bumping into a strong brother, a strong sister, who can help you with the word of God, who can teach you, who can shepherd you, who can walk you through scripture. It is a tremendous blessing. And it's something that we need to be extremely thankful for. The Lord has been very gracious to us. You think about this as we discuss today, this morning, as we discuss how the church is to be organized, how the Lord in his wisdom has organized how we're to be led, how we're to be governed, and then how we're to interrelate with that governing, interrelate with that leading, how we're to operate as members in the church. And it is in the wisdom of God that this is set up. This is by the teaching, the instruction from the scripture. As we think about that, I wanna make a point to begin, and I want you to apply this point to what we're talking about to this morning. If the church is to be a witness of God to the world, then everything that we do should be thought of in terms of that focus. And if you think of it in terms of that focus, then everything we do becomes incredibly important. Everything from how we pray, to how we interact with one another, to how we fellowship, to how we preach the gospel, to how we preach, and certainly to how we are led. It is all for the purpose that we worship our great God and King who is reigning and ruling, and will one day fully reign and rule over this earth that is currently under the power of the wicked one, will rule and reign completely. And it's how we are to interrelate with that rule and reign that we learn in how we're led and governed in the church. We need to be very careful about these things because they all have importance, they all matter. And so as we get into this conversation today about church government, church government might be taken to some as secondary issue or something that isn't that important or just something that why do we have to learn about that? But it is incredibly important when we consider the work that we have to do and how we're to do it. Can you imagine, let me ask you a question up front. Can you imagine, think of for a moment, the perfect fellowship that Adam and Eve had with God in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had perfect fellowship with God. There was no sin unhindered, unfettered by sin altogether. It was perfect fellowship. God spoke to them audibly, taught them what they were to know about him, taught them how they were to interrelate with him. It was perfect fellowship with God. But when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, that fellowship ended. And when that fellowship ended because of our sin, Adam and Eve became exiles. And because Adam and Eve were exiles, we, with Adam as our representative head, we become exiles because of our sin. In Genesis chapter three, verse 24, the Bible says God drove out the man. This is because of sin. God drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. On that day, we became outcasts from God because of our sin and we lost sight of God. We lost sight of God. We read the account of Moses in Exodus 33 where Moses wanted to see God's glory, right? So God covered him with his hand and as God passed by, Moses just caught up a glimpse of God. And yet God said to Moses, no man can see my face and live. God is holy and God is just. God is fully separate from sin. You can't even look upon God and live because we are sinners. We have been separated from God because of our sin. We've lost sight of God. The world at that time caught a glimpse of God or were to catch a glimpse of God in God's people, the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel to work to be priests to God, a holy nation and the nations that lived around Israel were to see the God of Israel and how they lived and how they practiced their faithfulness to God and how they obeyed God. And from that perspective, they could see the justice of God. They could see the mercy of God, the patience of God. They could see the judgment of God. And now as you fast forward into the church age, into the New Testament age, Christ, the image of the invisible God comes into the picture. And Christ says to Philip in John 14, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And looking at Christ, we see the perfect revelation of God in God the Son. These eyewitnesses of Christ, and first John 1 said of Jesus, that it was him whom they have heard which they have seen with their eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. It'd been awesome, right? To be there with Christ, a perfect revelation of God. God chose to display himself, to display his glory through Christ, fully God and fully man. But today, we're no longer able to see Christ, right? Christ is seated in the heavenlies. We can no longer say with those apostles at that time what our eyes have seen and our hands have handled. And so how does the lost world around us get a visible view or a visible expression of who God is? How does that happen today? How are they to catch a glimpse of him? How are they to learn of him, to know of him? How are they to know what he's like in his rule and in his reign? There are those described by Psalm 14, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They're atheists running around. How do they catch a glimpse of God? How do they understand who God is and what he's like? Certainly the heavens declare the glory of God. We know that from Psalm 19. We see the Lord certainly in his word and what God has revealed of Christ in his word can be read, can be seen. But today, with his word, the most visible expression of God on the earth is the body of Christ, his church. The church is to be a visible, objective, expressive view of Christ in the way that we preach the gospel. In our doctrine, in our display as a pillar and ground of the truth, in our display of truth, in our preaching of the gospel to the lost. Paul says in Ephesians, chapter three, verse eight. Listen to what Paul says here. It says, to me who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. So as the church goes out with their doctrine, as the church goes out with the gospel, we preach Christ and the lost hear of Christ through the preaching of his word. But he goes on to say, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church. It's a church that is a visible expression, makes known Christ to the lost world. And he goes on to say to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. His eternal purpose, God's eternal purpose is accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, is made known by the church. A church is a visible expression of Christ, visible expression of the gospel. It's through the church that the lost world should see Christ in the lives of her people. We're to live holy lives so that the lost world can see Christ in us. It's through the church that the lost world should hear the gospel preached so that they might be saved. It's through the church that the lost world should visibly see the love of Christ, should visibly see the justice of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, the transformative power of God through the gospel and the glory of God displayed in the lives of his people. Maybe you're here today and you've not put faith in Christ. And you're here today because you're looking for a glimpse of God. You are weighed down and you feel the weight of a great burden that you carry, a great burden of your sin. Maybe up until this point, you've had nothing but a vision of yourself in mind. And you've not ever seen the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God. You've not come to grips with the justice of God, the judgment of God, the wrath of God. And if you've realized you're carrying that great burden, every day that passes, you're loading more lead bricks into your burden, more lead bricks into your backpack and your weight gets heavier and heavier, the weight of your sin. And it's the weight of that sin that will drag you to hell, lying, deceit, lust, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, cheating, stealing, hypocrisy, do not be deceived, the Bible says in First Corinthians chapter six, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Look around you. This church is full of people who are once just like you. As First Corinthians six describes, they were once like you, but they've been washed, been cleansed, been forgiven, been set apart, been made right, or being sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. A patterns of sin in your life can be broken. The just penalty that you deserve is paid in Christ if you have repented and put your faith in Him. The love of Christ, the hope of eternal life fills the heart of a Christian. How is it that that won't change someone's life? In a biblical church, you're gonna hear Christians sharing the gospel with you. Try to get out the front door without somebody talking to you here about Christ because they care about where you spend eternity. They care about where you'll go when you die. That's a biblical church. That's a church who cares about being representatives of Christ to a lost world. They're going to point you to your only hope in the scriptures, your only hope is Christ. It's Christ who says to you, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and take that great weight off your back. The Bible says that Jesus will give you rest. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Bible says you must repent. You must turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ, all of your hope, all of your trust in Christ alone. You can't depend on any of your own works. All of your works are nothing more than filthy rags that will drag you to hell. Must place your faith in Christ alone. To turn to Christ by faith according to Hebrews 11 is to believe that God is and believe that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. To believe that your good works are filthy rags. To believe that everything that needs to be done has been done by Christ and in Christ who lived a perfect sinless life, died on Calvary paying the penalty for sin for those that would repent and believe and raised in power by God on the third day according to the scriptures. Do you want forgiveness? Do you want eternal life? Do you wanna have your sin forgiven? Do you want Christ? You must repent and believe in the gospel. It's the church that is the pillar and ground of that truth that displays Christ to a lost world. The church is to display that through the preaching of the gospel, through our lives, through our testimony. Let me ask you some questions and think about these for a moment. If the church is to preach and to display Christ, what would the church display about Christ if it were filled with hypocrites? What would the church display about Christ if it failed to preach the gospel? If you don't preach the gospel, you can't properly call yourself a follower of Christ. We're to preach the gospel. It is the only hope to sinners that there is. What would the church display if it failed to take a stand against sin in the body? What would the church display about Christ if it were filled with a bunch of people who knew doctrine but who didn't fervently live it out? What would the church display about Christ if it were unloving, inhospitable, or unkind? What would the church display if it didn't pray? If it didn't seek the forgiveness of one another, didn't love one another, didn't fervently worship more to the point of our subject today, what would the church communicator display about Christ if it didn't equip faithfully its people for the work of the ministry? If the church didn't have authority, had no authority, if it were chaotic or disorderly, if it weren't led, if it weren't obedient to the scriptures, if it had no leadership, if it had no structure, if it had no organization, Paul says of the Corinthians, let all things be done decently and in order. And the purpose of that statement was so that someone coming in from the outside didn't think we were all mad and couldn't control ourselves. Why is that? Why are we to do things decently and in order? It's because we're citizens of the kingdom and God is a God of decency and order and God rules and reigns in that way. We see that order in organization expressed all over the New Testament, all over the pages of the New Testament, we see examples of church meetings, don't we? We see examples of the church faithfully practicing discipline. We see examples in scripture of qualifications for membership in the church. We see examples of churches organized in ministry. We see the qualifications of an appointment for elders and deacons in the church, how the church is to be led, how the church is to be served. And we see the practice of the ordinances in the church. And one of the ways that the church is charged to display Christ is to function with biblical order and a biblical leadership. And it's incredibly important, a biblical form of church government. This display is for the purpose of displaying Christ's authority over his body, God's authority over his people. And we're all to be under that authority and submit to that authority. It is an expression of his kingdom, an expression of his rule and his reign. So as we get into this conversation about church government, there's a few points that I want you to see. The first point is that this authority ultimately belongs to Christ. That Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the head of the church. And we look back at church history, there have been our brothers and sisters who have burned at the stake for making that statement. Burned at the stake for making such a simple statement that Jesus Christ is the head of his church and not the Pope and Rome. John Huss went to the stake and burned. Huss means goose. You get the phrase, your goose is cooked, came from John Huss burning at the stake for making the statement that Jesus Christ is the head of his church. All authority has been given to him, the Bible says in Matthew 28. Christ is the chief shepherd. But now Christ, as he administers his authority in the body, administers his authority through the word of God, through the word of God. And his word has been placed into the hands of faithful men who are called to lead. Now that means if Christ administers his authority through his word, then all that we need to know about preaching, all that we need to know about discipling, all that we need to know about evangelism, all that we need to know about preaching and teaching, all that we need to know about organizing our lives together, all that we need to know about joy and hope and our eternal future and our salvation and Christ, everything that we need to know is known through the word of God. We hold here to the sufficiency of the scripture. And the scripture has not left us in the dark with how we're to organize ourselves and lead ourselves in the church. The scripture is sufficient for that also and has given us good instruction for how we're to lead and organize. What that means is this, for your Christian life and then also for how we lead and govern the church, we're not to believe one thing and then go to the Bible to try to drum up verses that justify our thing that we already believe. So in other words, we don't just assume that our government is right and then go to the Bible and try to twist scriptures together to try to justify why we hold to the government that we have. For you, your doctrine doesn't come because I believe this about evangelism and then you go to the scripture and try to drum up passages of scripture to justify why you think your belief is right. Your doctrine of evangelism is to be formed from the scriptures and from the scriptures first. So we, if we're gonna know how we do things, how we practice things in the church, we have to go to the Bible first, gain instruction from the word of God and then govern ourselves according to the word of God. Our goal is a church is to do just that. We search the scriptures for principles with respect to how we're to be led, how we're to be organized, how our government is to operate and we find that sufficiently in the word of God. The secondly, in as much as Christ mediates or administers his government, his authority through the word of God, Christ has then placed his word, like I said, in the hands of qualified elders to lead his people and lead his people as under shepherds. Christ being the chief shepherd and then elders as under shepherds to help in the leadership of the church. And we'll talk about qualifications for these men in a moment, but I want you to see a few distinguishing characteristics about elder leadership in the church. The first thing I want you to see is that elder leadership in the church is to be plural. There's to be more than one. We'll talk about that word in a moment, but there's to be more than one. In Acts, if you're taking notes, Acts chapter 14, verse 23, Acts 14, 23, the Bible says, so when they had appointed elders plural in every church singular and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. We see an example in Acts 14, 23 of appointing multiple plural elders in a singular church. In Acts chapter 20, verse 17, Paul from Miletus sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. Elders being plural, church being singular again. Paul calls for the multiple plurality of elders from the church in Ephesus to come to him in Miletus. In Titus chapter one, verse five, the Bible says, for this reason, Paul says to Titus, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders plural in every city as I commanded you. It was very common at that time to have one church per city. You had multiple elders being appointed in a singular church in that singular city. In James chapter five, verse 14, James asks, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders plural of the church singular and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now that kind of thing is repeated throughout the New Testament. Elder used in its plural form, church used in its singular form, 16 times we see plural elders in the context of a singular local church. Five times we see elder used in its singular senses. One example of that in 1 Timothy chapter five, verse 19, where the Bible instructs do not receive an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. That could be speaking of any elder in a church that had a plurality of elders. Does that make sense? The clear teaching, the very clear teaching of the Bible is that a church is organized and governed with a plurality of elders to lead, more than one. Now you can investigate that more, but it's definitive in the New Testament. It's inarguable. And so a single elder model just can't be sustained from scripture. It's not something that can be supported from the scripture. There is a plurality of qualified elders. Now plurality is great and it's very, very helpful. Again, in the wisdom of God, plurality really helps us. Elders have weaknesses. They're not perfect men. Some of them have a lot of weaknesses. And what is really, really helpful about plurality of eldership is that those other godly men make up for their weaknesses. One brother may be very direct and another elder may be a little softer around the edges to help offset him. There are some brothers who are very passive and some brothers who are very much go-getters. There are some brothers who have more knowledge than other brothers. Or more experience than other brothers. This is a way that the Lord in his wisdom helps to bolster the strength of elder leadership in his church. So first, elders are to be plural. There's to be more than one. Secondly, we're speaking about here one office and one office only. In that sense, we'll talk about this more in a moment, there's not a hierarchy. It's one office. And so when the Bible uses different words for this office, the Bible uses those words interchangeably for the same office and each of the words given just gives nuance to how that office is to be worked in. The description of that office. I'll give you some examples. First word is elder, presbyteros. It literally means gray-headed. And I qualify for that word. It means gray-headed, just an older guy. It speaks to maturity, speaks to not a novice. Somebody who's been in the faith a little while. The next word that is used is overseer. We see the word bishop in 1 Timothy chapter three, verse one. Bishop, that word is episcopos. And that word means overseer. Someone who has oversight watching over the flock. And it's sort of that word describes the function of the office of elder as being one of oversight. And the last word we see is the word pastor or shepherd, poiman is the word. And there's a shepherding sense to that word. All three of those give nuance to the one office of elder in the church, or bishop, or overseer, or pastor. We're talking about one office. Now, we see several examples in the New Testament where those words are used interchangeably of the same office. And one of those is in 1 Peter chapter five, verses one through three. 1 Peter chapter five, verses one through three. Now, this is a general epistle written to a whole lot of churches, a whole lot of Christians and a whole lot of different churches. And then Peter says, the elders, plural, who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder, see there it's that singular use of the word elder because Peter is referring to himself. It's one of the five times in the New Testament that's done. I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed shepherd the flock of God. That word shepherd there is the verb form of that word, poiman, for pastor. It's the verb form of that word. Again, another word used for the same office. Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers. There's the third word, oversight of the flock. He goes on not by compulsion, but willingly, and not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples of the flock. Now, you'll find that same interchangeable use of those words in Acts chapter 20, verse 28, and in Titus chapter one, verses six and seven. All that to say, there's no hierarchy. We're not talking about pastors who are in authority over elders who are in authority over overseers. There's no hierarchy like that. There's not a bench of bishops that has control over all the other bishops that eventually waits in a pope who has control over everybody. It's unbiblical. There's just nothing of that in scripture. There's no hierarchy here. There won't be a case where the role of a pastor is higher than that of the role of an elder. We're talking about the same office. Sometimes we use those words to describe the function or role that that particular leader is fulfilling. So those words may be used interchangeably, but we're speaking about the same office with the same responsibility, with the same authority, with the same equality, if that makes sense. All right, third. First, it's plural. Second, we're talking about one office. And third, there is parody in that office as opposed to disparity. Parity means equality. Equality in authority and equality in responsibility. Parity basically means that each elder gets a vote. We sit down at the table to make decisions. Everybody gets a vote. It's not that this guy, he's been here six months longer than this guy, and so he gets two votes and this guy gets one vote. Or one of the guys is bald and so he gets a half a vote. The other guy's got a full head of hair. We're gonna give him four votes, right? Doesn't have anything to do with that. Parity means each guy gets a vote, okay? Each guy gets an equal vote. That works really well with three or more. Difficult sometimes with two. Maybe you can understand why. Parity works really well with three or more. Parity primarily pertains to making decisions leading the church and making decisions for the church. However, that being said, you have equality in responsibility, equality in authority, but there may be a functional difference. There may be functional differences in giftedness of those men that are raised up. There may be a functional difference in their experience, in their knowledge of the word of God, in their leadership ability. There may be a functional difference in their statuses, full-time, part-time, or lay-elder, as someone who works outside of the church. The church doesn't pay them. Maybe a functional difference in their job description, in their role. Many functional differences between those that may be charged with leading the church. In that case, there are implications for that. You may have those that are, their primary responsibility is preaching and teaching. You may have another elder whose primary responsibility is leading small groups, leading the teaching ministry of the church. There may be another elder whose primary function is finances and administration and he teaches some classes. There may be another elder who is responsible for the evangelism outreach of the church, the missions of the church. We see that in various ways throughout the scripture. There also may be, because of giftedness, because of role, because of function, those elders that have a different job description or a different role in the church, we see that displayed in Christ choosing the apostles. Jesus calls the 12 to himself, and in calling the 12 to himself, singles out three for special attention, Peter, James, and John, right? Out of Peter, James, and John, calls out one, Peter. And in effect, in that, Peter becomes a leader of leaders, or becomes a first among equals, so to speak. And we see that singled out in 1 Timothy chapter five, verse 17, where Paul, in addressing Timothy, says, let those ruling well elders and laboring in word of doctrine elders be counted worthy of double honor. There's this distinction made between elders doing the role of an elder and those who are ruling well, laboring in word and doctrine. This is seen also in Jesus Christ sending letters to the seven churches in Revelation, to the messenger or the pastor of that church. There was one who was singled out that he sent those letters to. Now keep in mind as we think about this, this is a functional difference, not a formal one. It's a functional difference, not a formal one. And what I mean by that is that it's not a difference in equality, not a difference in authority, not a difference in responsibility, not a difference in that vote, not a difference in the leadership, simply a functional difference, not a formal one. Each elder is under equal accountability. Each elder is to serve the congregation, each elder gets an equal vote. We see functional differences. You can see functional differences, can't you, in the Trinity itself. You have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God the Father sought those whom he would save, God the Son bought with his own blood those who would come to Christ in repentance and faith, and then God the Holy Spirit wrought their salvation, a work of the Spirit and the heart of sinful man to save them. Just a functional difference even among the Trinity. That being said, the office of elder may involve functional differences in their role based on giftedness. For brother is extremely gifted in preaching and teaching, well that brother needs to be preaching and teaching. There may be a brother who comes on that's extremely gifted in administration and we need to use his gift. It may not be our gift and it is his, he needs to use his gift. So there may be functional differences in their gifting, maybe functional differences in their role. In other words, you may have plurality, you may have parody, you may have the scriptural necessities, you go to the table to lead, you vote as equals and yet elders may be appointed to various roles in the church. And as you can expect in our church, you may have full-time elders. You do and we hope to have more of them. You may have part-time elders and you'll have lay elders, elders that we can't afford to pay yet that we'd love to bring on full-time as soon as we can that work outside the church until we can afford to bring them on. Based on job description, you may have a senior pastor and associate pastors. You may have elders that perform certain functions in the church in one area of church-like like over small groups or evangelism or teaching or Sunday school. You've got pastors, all of them fulfilling the same office, same responsibilities, same equality, parody and plurality, but they are functionally responsible in different areas in the church. That being said, fourthly, we do not see a hierarchy. There is no hierarchy. There is no leading bishop over other bishops. There is no leading pastor who is in charge of all the other pastors. There's simply no basis for that outside of or inside the scriptures, no basis for that. In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council, many give their explanation for why there is this outside governing body over the church from the example of Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council. If you know that story from the Bible, they simply went to the Jerusalem Council for counsel. It had no governing authority over the rest of the churches. For us today, one of the baptistic distinctives, one of the distinctives of us being Baptist is that we believe in the autonomy of the local church. In other words, we rule and govern ourselves. There is no council. There is no synod. There is no bench of bishops. There is no pope. There is no perichurch organization that rules over us. We govern and rule ourselves under the authority of Christ our head and his word. And no one else does that to us. Authority rests with the church. That authority involves membership who comes in, also involves discipline sometimes who goes out. It involves who becomes elders. It involves the keys of the kingdom. That is a local church authority. Now all that being said, we looked at what that elder is, what that elder does, how are we to interrelate then with one another in this government? And the way I like to think of this, I like to think of it as a dance. It's a dance and it's a careful dance, but it's a beautiful dance when it's done right. Considering God appointed authority in the church, there must be this dance between leadership and members. Can a leader in the church abuse his authority? Yeah, happens all the time, doesn't it? But does that then negate or cancel out the need for authority? No, we've gotta have authority in the church. It has to be God appointed authority and it's gotta be godly authority. Can church members, can they fail to submit to the authority that God has placed in the church? Yes, happens all the time. But does that negate or eradicate the need for godly authority in the church? No, doesn't mean we just need to throw it out the window as useless or senseless because people aren't gonna submit to it anyway. No, we're to have godly biblical authority. On one side, on the side of the elder, the elder must not overextend or abuse or overreach with his authority. Jesus said in Mark chapter 10, verse 42, describing leadership. Jesus called them to himself and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles, lord it over them. This is an abuse of authority. They're great ones, exercise authority over them and he's thinking in an abusive authoritarian way. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. We're as elders, the elders are not to lord it over the people and not to abuse or overreach with their authority. On the other side, the church member, they must submit to those, obey those that have the rule over them. The author of Hebrews says in chapter 13, verse 17, obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. There's no qualification to the word obey. There's no qualification to the word submit. In the dance, the elder doesn't overreach his authority. In the dance, he doesn't abuse his authority. His authority extends so far as it is a derived authority from Christ through his word and doesn't reach past his word. So the elder has great responsibility and great needs to take great care in how he leads. On the other side of the dance, the member with great care obeys and submits to and follows his leadership. And that's the responsibility of the members and they need to be careful in how they do that. The elders lead within the scope of the office, not overstepping their bounds. Members follow their leadership as long as their leadership follows Christ and keep watch over their soul. Elders should be marked by a careful understanding that the church doesn't belong to them. The church belongs to Christ. It's his church. The church members should trust, protect, respect and honor its elders and submit to their leadership. Listen very carefully. This is a quote from Mark Never. Listen to what he says. A recognition of the fallen nature of authority and the possibility of its abuse is good and healthy. Power, apart from God's purposes, is always demonic. But a suspicion of all authority or an innate distrust of it is very bad. Are you distrusting leadership? You have an evil suspicion about your leadership. It's very bad. Really, it reveals more of the person questioning than of the authority they're questioning. Moreover, it shows a cancerous denigration in our capacity to operate as those made in God's image. In other words, if we are made in God's image, we should be able to operate trusting in the Lord, operate as the Lord has instructed us to operate. Godly elders not overstepping their bounds, godly memberships submitting to their leadership. To live as he meant us to live, we have to be able to trust him and even to no small extent to trust those made in his image. Everyone in the Bible, from Adam to Eve, to rogue rulers in the book of Revelation, show their evil fundamentally by denying God's authority and usurping it as their own. I would say to you, submit to you that everyone who has ever been put out under biblical church discipline, just biblical reasons, has failed in part at this exhortation, fundamentally not submitting themselves to God's authority in the church. To reject authority then is short-sighted and it's self-destructive. So that's the dance, how we interrelate. How do we select those that have a lead over us in the church? One, God raises them up from among us. I want you to think just for a moment right now, you've been here for a short period of time, you've seen, who are those men that come to mind that the Lord has raised up among us? Lord has done that, hasn't he? He's been very, very gracious to us and has raised men among us to lead. Secondly, we confirm in the Lord raising them among us and we visibly, that becomes evidence and we see that. We confirm their qualifications. We find those qualifications in 1 Timothy, or in Titus chapter one, verses six through nine. And also we see them, turn with me here, to 1 Timothy chapter three, verses one through seven. Very quickly through 1 Timothy chapter three, beginning in verse one, we see that the elder is to be blameless. A bishop then, verse two, must be blameless. That means not culpable. The accusation won't stick because the accusation is false. Are elders going to sin? Absolutely, we're still sinners. We still battle with a flesh. Can an elder repent? Absolutely, but if there is a part of his character that fundamentally disqualifies him for the office of elder, he can't be an elder. And what this is saying in the fact that an elder is blameless, is that one of those disqualifying accusations can't stick. Someone comes and says, oh, this one, the guy's not hospitable. That's the character of his life. And that accusation doesn't stick because he's blameless. Listen, he doesn't rule his household well. Well, that accusation doesn't stick because he's blameless, does that make sense? An elder is going to be hurled upon. If he's in a biblical church, all those who desire to live godly will suffer persecution. It's gonna be just hurled upon with accusations. Accusations, accusations, accusations. What it means to be blameless is that those are baseless accusations that don't stick because the character of the man is such that he's not culpable for what he's being accused of, blameless. He's the husband of one wife, not a philanderer. He's a one woman man if he's married. He's temperate. Temperate here means holding no wine. It means self-controlled with appetites. He's got himself under control. He is sober-minded, sober-minded meaning, sober-minded, meaning disciplined, meaning self-controlled, thoughtful, disciplined. He is quickly disgruntled with foolishness, right? Sober-minded. He is to be of good behavior, self-explanatory. Hospitable means demonstrates love and care, specifically and especially to those that he doesn't know. Demonstrating love and care, hospitable. Able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetousness, not covetous, but one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. His children behave themselves. He has order in his household, and that's evident in his family. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? He's not a novice. He's not a brand new Christian. Less being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation of the devil. How many of you seen in the experience of our own church a younger Christian? It seems always to be young men who grab onto some tidbit of doctrine that get puffed up with pride. Did we see that? Yes, fairly common. We don't need a young man who's gonna be puffed up with pride in the office of an elder unless he fall into the same condemnation as a devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside. Good testimony in the sense that interacts well with those on the outside. He is hospitable, loving, caring toward those on the outside. Is an elder in a biblical church gonna have enemies on the outside? Yes. How many enemies do we see assaulting Paul continuously throughout his ministry? This is an elder who's loving, caring with those on the outside. Lost people who see Christ in his life. That's what that's referring to. And that is lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. Once you confirm their qualifications, you confirm their gifts and calling. See a man raised up among us who meets the qualifications and then you see how the Lord has grown him. You see the Lord's gifting in his teaching, in his understanding of the scriptures, in how he disciples, how he cares for the flock, how he labors in the flock. Many times these men are already performing the duties of an elder among us and no one's asked them to. That's just their character, that's just what they do. They're already laboring in that office and we see that as evidence among us. Those men are proven and we evidence their gifts and calling, we can confirm that. Next, the church affirms the leading of the elders. Elders, as they appoint other elders, the church is to affirm that. They also agree with the elders, the leaders of the church, these men are called and qualified. And lastly, we appoint them. So God raises them up, we confirm their qualifications, we confirm their gifts, their calling as being from the Lord, we affirm them and we appoint them. Lastly, what is your responsibility in this? You take part in the dance. You have a very important, as members of this church, we all have a very important responsibility to do our part in the dance. If you don't know how to dance, you need to learn how to dance. You've got to play your part. You have great responsibility in the church. You have a job here. It's not just a time to come for, I know how entertaining this is. It's not to come for entertaining, entertainment. This is, you've got a job, you've got a responsibility in the church. You're to take your part in the dance and submit to their leadership. That's why it's so important that you take part, you take participation in who we appoint as elders because you're going to have to submit to them. You're saying, I'm going to submit to them, I'm going to follow them as they follow Christ. They're taking, they're looking out for my soul. I'm going to obey those that have the rule over me. And you're to follow the outcome of their faith. You're to follow the outcome of their faith. The elders that you're bringing on need to be men who are responsible with their leadership. They don't overreach, overstep their bounds. They are appropriately qualified as the scripture calls them to be and they understand that their authority is a derived authority from Christ only so far as it goes through the word of God. Make sense? All that to be said. And in light of us talking about this very subject today, I am incredibly happy, glad, just joyful in the Lord to be able to present to you today three men that we're going to be calling as elders of our church. And so very exciting announcement. We're going to begin today the process of which you play a part, the process of appointing them to this role in accord with the scriptures. And so please welcome these brothers as I call them. We want them to come forward. Want you to know who they are. We want to pray for them and we want to begin this process together. So great joy. Man, I love these guys. Jimmy Feliciano, Mark Mudge and Rick Fernandez. You guys can come up here. Yeah, God bless you guys. A very weighty matter, right? A very serious matter in our church, but a very joyful one. I, how many of you can attest with me? The Lord has been so gracious to us, right? And raising up men among us to help. Would you say amen to that? Amen. The Lord has been extremely gracious to us and I'm very grateful. I know you are very grateful. I hear you talk about them all the time. And that's not gossip, it's all good. I just love these brothers, right? So our church is, I know you love these brothers and I know these brothers love you. We pray for you. We talk about you all the time and all in good ways too, just loving you. And so I'm very pleased in the Lord to be able to serve alongside these brothers and to serve along you. And to serve along you in walking through this process now of appointing them to this very important role in our church. These men first have obviously been raised up among us, right? They are men whose giftedness and calling have been made evident among us. Have they not? Right. They have been functioning in the capacity of this office on their own to this point and have been doing extremely well in that. Very, very sober-minded, very thoughtful, very intentional in the way that they serve you here. And I believe that they meet the qualifications outlined in 1 Timothy chapter three and in Titus chapter one. And so I want you and I together as a church together to have the opportunity to affirm them with me for this office. And so with that, what begins today is an affirmation process of these men in our church. You have between now and April 20th where that process will be complete and we'll affirm them for the office. Now what that looks like is this. Take the time that you need to talk to them. These guys could get a good meal, so take them to dinner, take them to lunch. Talk to them, ask them questions, ask questions of them, ask questions about their theology, ask questions of how they view their role as elder, ask questions of their wives, ask them about their kids and how they manage their household. Ask them questions. You take the time that you need between now and April 20th to, if you don't already, get to know them. Talk to them. The other important aspect of that is to resolve any concerns that you have, any issues that you have. All need to be completely resolved, completely done before April 20th. Now that being said, that's incumbent upon you. If you've got an issue or have a problem, you need to go to that brother and talk to him. If it's a concern or problem that you would have difficulty in affirming the brother for the office, then you need to let that brother know, talk with him to confirm that, to deal with that, resolve that and you need to let me know as well. We need to know that before April 20th so that we can work to resolve that. April 20th is not an up or down yes or no vote. April 20th is us together affirming what God has done and affirming these brothers in our midst. And so we're going to be affirming them on April 20th, barring any difficulty. Similar to the wording in a marriage ceremony. Maybe this is one way to think about it. When two people are getting married, long-term commitment, right? Long-term. And the pastor gets up in the marriage ceremony and says, there's anyone here who has any reason why these two should not be joined together. Let him speak now or forever hold his peace. Well, you've got between now and April 20th to take care of that. And on April 20th, we're gonna affirm these men for the office of elder in our church. So, once we affirm these men, Lord willing, we're going to install them as elders that it will have a ceremony to install them and we're gonna have a celebration. Celebrating God's grace to us and raising them up for this role. So with that, let's take some time and pray for these brothers. I pray that God would bless this process. Pray that God would bless them in the work that he's raising them up to do is a very difficult, I can attest to that, very difficult, very serious work. And we want the Lord to care for them, to continue caring for our church and caring for us as we go through this process together. And Ben, would you mind praying for these guys?