to Matthew chapter 18 this evening. Matthew chapter 18. I don't know how much you care, how much you track. You know, most of you are just here on Wednesday night. We have Wednesday night service, but we've been, I have been talking about some stuff pertaining to the one of these days transition to a new pastor. I'm going to do that, continue with that tonight. next Wednesday along those lines and the Wednesday after. So let's see, next Wednesday would be the 24th. The Wednesday after, I think, would be the 1st of May. I'm going to tie up some loose ends, deal with some things. I have a three-question survey that I'm going to give to you, ask you if you would be so kind as to fill it out. And so that will conclude this. There are no doubt a million things that perhaps I ought to say, and one of these days perhaps we'll think to say them, but I think we've gone about as, I think I've covered as much of the ground as, by the time I get done, as I will have desired to cover at this time. Let's pray, and we'll turn our attention to our subject matter this evening. Father, help us to think about the church the way that you do. Collectively, object of your love and desire, the focus of your redeeming salvation. You love the church. And we are your church, and we pray your blessing upon your church in the largest sense of the word and our local church. Father, it is my prayer for us that for many years to come, Westwood Heights would serve you faithfully and be a light in the dark world. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So we have, you know, I just kind of began by talking about what a church is and what a church does. Not that I didn't think that you know that, but I've thought that I wanted to spend some time talking about it. And I've given now, this will be the fourth week to the subject matter of authority in general. We talked about deacons. We spent a couple of weeks talking about elders. And tonight I want to talk about the authority of the congregation. The authority of the congregation. Christ is the chief shepherd of the church. He is the head of the church. And whatever other authority exists in the church, exists under the headship of Christ. And some of that authority is directed to the congregation, to the assembly itself. It's not just Christ the head pastor telling everybody what to do, everybody doing their duties and having discharged their function. But there's real and genuine authority that is vested in the church and And again, the pastor's role as an overseer, I think, is oftentimes simply to inform the church at large of what its responsibilities and duties are and to lead them in the exercise of them, not to be the one who wields that authority on their behalf. And so the authority that belongs to a pastor belongs to a pastor. The authority that belongs to the deacons or to the elders, as it may be, belongs to them and is to be wielded by them. And the authority that belongs to the congregation is to be wielded by the congregation. And so I just want to walk through some of the variety of places in which authority is laid at your feet, responsibility and authority. things that God expects from you. And these are decision kind of things, not just service kinds of things, but decision kind of things. So let's just begin in the beginning in Matthew chapter 18. And let me just point out to you that the church is given the ultimate responsibility on earth to address sinning brothers within the church. The church is given The church is given this responsibility. Can it be delegated to the pastor? Can it be delegated to the pastor and the deacons? Can it be ignored by the assembly? That's an unpleasant task. I wouldn't want anything to do with it. Nobody in their right mind wants anything to do with it. But these are responsibilities levied at the church. Matthew 18, Verse number 15, and by the way, the entire chapter, the entire chapter of Matthew 18 addresses some form of waywardness or some dimension of sinfulness. So Matthew 18, 15, moreover, because, right, we're talking about authority and sinfulness and waywardness, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. So if there is a matter privately, and if there is a matter privately, the word alone in Matthew 18.15 is a Greek word we all know. It's the word mono. Mono, singular, alone. And I would just point out, by the way, on a side note, I'm not really trying to exegete the passage, but on a side note that this rarely happens in reality. What is far more inclined to happen is that we talk to somebody else about the offending brother. We don't talk to the offending brother, we talk about the offending brother. That shouldn't happen either, right? I mean, God is being very clear here. He's being very specific. about the way he wants us to deal with our issues and deal with our problems. So if there is an offense, and if you have been tripped up by your brother, then your first level of responsibility is not even to tell your spouse, certainly not to tell your buddy, but to tell the offender. Right? And if he hears thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Right, if there is a response, a ready response, right, then that should be the end of the matter. And there's no biblical reason for it to ever have gone any farther than that. But if it is not resolved privately, verse number 16, he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And so this is in keeping with the gold standard of biblical criteria that two or three witnesses are essential for establishing a matter, for solidifying, legitimizing, maybe would be a good way to put it. We live in this horribly twisted and sinful world where somebody can come along 30 or 40 years after the fact, make an accusation against somebody, and disrupt their entire life. Biblically, that person has no ability to even tread water. And the witnesses, by the way, are not friends who will bear testimony to you talking to your brother. They are witnesses to the offense. They can be genuine witnesses to the offense. And at that point in time, verse number 17, if he shall neglect to hear them. So the sinning brother is obstinate, the sinning brother is stubborn, the sinning brother is difficult. I didn't do that. I'm not guilty of that. And it is a matter to come before the church. The church. Verse number 17, if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. Now, I'm not suggesting for a minute that Jesus is not suggesting that the pastor and the deacons or the pastor and the elders or all of the elders, depending upon the model of church government, would not be involved in that at some level. But I am clearly suggesting that Jesus did not say, then take it to the pastor, who will then become the one responsible to intervene on your behalf. that is to go to the church, then take it to the church. And here's the, right, I mean, Jesus is not, again, he's not specifying all the particulars of how that would work, folks. What he is doing in this passage is establishing the credibility and the authority of the church. Right? So the particulars of how we would do that at Westwood Heights, that's a separate conversation. But notice how the trajectory goes. You talk to them privately, and if it's resolved privately, it's resolved. And you talk to them privately, and if it's not resolved privately, then you bring others who can bear testimony to the offense, not testimony to your confrontation of the offender. And if that doesn't resolve the issue, then it goes to the church. And what do we do then if the offender will not listen to the church collectively? Verse number 17, if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church, but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. And this is one of the reasons, folks, that we sometimes think of this as the church discipline passage, because what Jesus is getting at, right? I mean, let's kind of put a flip spin on it, right? What could a heathen belong to the church? Now, again, one of the problems, folks, one of the issues that we have, if I can go all the way back to the beginning, is that unfortunately, depending upon the variety and version of independent fundamental Baptists that you grew up in, Many of those people are really unclear on what the church is. They're totally accustomed to the church being a place where we get as many unbelievers as we can come on Sunday, and have this gigantic service, and then we talk about having a great day in church, as if biblically there's any way to connect unbelievers to the church. And there just is not. And I know that sounds harsh, but the church will save people. Part of the church's responsibility is to ensure that those who are part of the church are at least at some level functioning as believers. And believers recognize their sinfulness and understand their culpability and recognize the possibility that they will be the offender. And if they just dig their heels in all the way up the line and refuse to take responsibility or their actions, in spite of the fact that they can be biblically defended as being the offender, two or three witnesses, you are guilty. That matter is no longer up for discussion. We have biblical, definite testimony to your guilt. Here they are. Will you address it? I will not. Then you cannot be a part of the assembly. And that's the framework, by the way, folks, I think for verses 18 and 19 that really do not stand alone, but remind the church that although this seems to be a very harsh stance to take, right? I have heard pastors defend the most egregious kinds of conduct by church members with this very plausible sounding defense. We just want to help people, but we just want to help people. So lest anybody think that Matthew 18, 15 through 17 is an extreme measure that God could not possibly support, that this is just legalism to its core and hardheartedness to its core, then let Jesus finish his sentence. Verse 18, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. So if you go through the process and you say, look, The biblical testimony, the biblical standard for evidence has been met. You are guilty. Will you admit your guilt? I will not. You must go. You cannot be a member. Heaven goes, we support that 100%. We support that stand 100%. That's the stand to take. Whatsoever shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earnestness touching anything, that they shall ask if it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. So the Lord is not separating himself from an assembly that does that. He's not holding his nose at an assembly that does that. He is identifying himself with an assembly that does that. because the church is sacred to the Savior. But all of that, folks, to point out to you that the responsibility lies at the feet of the assembly. This is something to be done by the assembly. And there have been, unfortunately, periodic times where I have come to you. There has not been a time that we have formally gone through this process of having to expel someone But we have dealt with things publicly. We have called names publicly. Nobody likes it. But the assembly has this authority. It is authority that is granted unto them. And this is the complaint that, and let me ask you to turn now, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. This is exactly the kind of criticism that Paul levied against the church at Corinth. The scenario is somewhat different in that what Jesus is talking about having been done privately is in Corinth a matter of publicity. 1 Corinthians 5.1, it is reported commonly, right? It is just out there as, you know, The Tigers played today, the Cubs played today, the weather is nice today, and so-and-so is having an affair with their mother-in-law. Oh yeah, I knew about that, and we all know about that. It is commonly reported there is fornication among you. Such fornication is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife, and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from you for I verily is absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such in one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now most conservative commentators and people who deal with the passage would deal with, would treat handing them over to Satan as being synonymous with let them be as a publican and a heathen. In other words, they are outside the protective umbrella of the assembly. Get rid of him. Now what happened, just right to bring this all in, is you read through first, not just first Corinthians, but second Corinthians, right? What becomes evident is when to the church at Corinth, got this letter, they received Paul's rebuke, and they confronted the man who did the right thing and repented of his sin. And so when you get into 2 Corinthians, Paul says, well, now you need to forgive him and bring him back. Because that's the right thing to do as well. Restoration is always the goal. But not everybody wants to be restored. We understand that. Not everybody wants to be restored. And the prevailing way of handling these things in America is that most people bail out before a church ever gets a chance to follow that process, right? They just go, look, I'm out of here, I'm gone, so that's. And then let me ask you if you would turn please to 1 Timothy chapter five, because folks, you need to understand that this responsibility to deal with sinful conduct within the assembly does not just simply extend to other church members, I mean it's pretty easy to go to Matthew 18 and you can just imagine the scenario that over here is a guy who's kind of sketchy in his Christianity to begin with and he doesn't come around very much and now he's a troublemaker and we try to deal with him and he doesn't want to be dealt with and so he's gone. But that authority, folks, that you have to deal with sin in the assembly extends all the way to the pulpit. all the way to the pulpit, 1 Timothy chapter five, and verse number 17, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scriptures say, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Now we all know that, at least at some level, that that is a clear instruction about people like me, vocational pastors, people who receive money for pastoral ministry. And I just mention that, folks, because verse number 19 then doesn't change the definition of an elder, right? It's not a different, it's not a different, well, that's a different kind of elder in verse number 19. It's the same elder, right? The elder that gets paid in verse number 17 and 18 is the elder on the receiving end of this. Against an elder, Received not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. There it is again, folks. The standard biblical criteria for condemnation. Two or three witnesses. That's what the law says. That's what the New Testament says. That was the standard by which Jesus was judged. Even though they were false witnesses, they went through the legal process. The T's were crossed. The I's were dotted. Jesus was condemned. The law was fulfilled. Against an elder received not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, them that sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one another, doing nothing by partiality. So assembly, the fact that you may love me The fact that I have been here 40 years and the fact that I'm supposed to be on the guard for your soul and the fact that you may like me does not absolve you of your responsibility towards me if I sin. Nothing is to be done by partiality. Nothing is to be done by partiality and this is a charge levied to the assembly These are responsibilities not that I bear, folks, but that you bear, that God confers upon the church as a whole, the church as an entity. All right, let's turn our attention to something a little bit happier. Go back, if you would, to Acts chapter 11. Not only does God invest the church with responsibility to deal with sinning members, including a sinning pastor or a sinning deacon, in a case like a Baptist church. The church has the authority to send representatives of the church or agents of the church on church business and to receive representatives and agents who are on church business. This is an authority that is granted to you. Acts chapter 11 and verse number, let me get to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11 and verse number 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phenis and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus." Here's part of that controversy, right? The early church preached the gospel only to the Jews. Peter then went out and preached it to the Gentiles. Now we got a big to-do, and now we got more people doing the very same thing, preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. That's what we're talking about here in the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. To compound our difficulty, and I'm not trying to be funny, to compound the difficulty, not only are they preaching the gospel to Gentiles, but Gentiles are receiving the gospel. And tidings of these things came into the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem, which is, by the way, the headquarters for the Jewish-only sentiment. And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord." And I'm not trying to take anything away from Barnabas, folks. But the text of Acts 11.24 is not just giving you a biographical sketch of Barnabas. It is carefully establishing the fact that Barnabas has the kind of credentials to make the decision that he makes, which is a decision that is not going to necessarily prove to be very popular in Jerusalem. That these Grecian people are really saved and it's a good thing that they heard the gospel and we should do more of it. But he goes, folks, as a representative of the church. And again, because the governmental structure of the church in Jerusalem, right, these are the very earliest days, you know, they got 12 apostles that are there and whatever else they have there in the way. They have all of these men. But they send Barnabas. The church that is in Jerusalem sends Barnabas. And he's a good man. But he is, there's no place that he is ever called, he's certainly not called an apostle. There's nothing to suggest that he's part of the leadership team as we would coin it. So, and in fact what happens verses 25 and 26 is that Barnabas now goes on a quest because that's really what is being described there. Departed Barnabas for to seek, for Saul the way a detective would pursue a criminal. You know, what are you doing? I'm looking for Saul. What else are you doing? Nothing. I'm looking for Saul. And when he found him, got him, he brought him there to Antioch, to the place where Gentiles were being saved. And so Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15, right, this saga continues of the gospel being preached to Gentiles, which again, to us, as a church filled with Gentiles, and I mean, you know, I've been here, you know, to my knowledge, Westwood Heights was started in 1972, to my knowledge, it has never had a member who was ethnically a Hebrew. We're all Gentiles, started by Gentiles, pastored by Gentiles, Congregation is all Gentiles, deacons are all Gentiles. Every deacon that I've ever had has been a Gentile. So to understand this controversy is a little bit lost on us, but it was a very big deal to them, to these Jewish people, should Gentiles receive the gospel. And then we add a whole new dimension of these Jewish people going, okay, well, Gentiles can get saved, but they gotta get circumcised. And so here we have round two. Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. What? When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, wouldn't you have liked to have been there for that? What a wonderful biblical understatement, no small dissension. They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up unto Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question, and being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phinehas and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they received of the church and of the apostles and elders, they declared all things that God had done with them." You just see the way that the church is involved in this, folks. The church, right? Verse number three, being brought on their way by the church is a very deliberate expression. It's not just a collection of words. It has a very deliberate meaning. It is often used to describe financial assistance. It is always used to describe definite, distinctive, deliberate aid, right? These men were on a mission. So, right, I mean, we've done this with some of, occasionally with youth activities, you've done it with me, we did it 10 years ago with five of the guys who went to Peru, and the church paid the way. And we've paid the way and are funded heavily, part of the way for young people to go on mission trips. And for the, is that, shouldn't people pay their own way? Not necessarily, the church has the authority to send representatives on spiritual business. The church is involved in the sending of them, Acts 15.3, and the church is involved in receiving them, Acts 15.4. This wasn't a behind-closed-doors meeting. I mean, look folks, from simply an intellectual standpoint, if I could put it that way, there is enough spiritual weight among the apostles to resolve this and make a decree, isn't there? I mean, we would hope by this point in time, we would be able to trust the apostolic band to get things right. But that is not what happens in Acts 15.4. There is a meeting that includes the entire church, those who are elders, and those who are the apostles. So the church has this responsibility. When you get down, jump down to verse number 22, then pleased at the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surname Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren. And they wrote letters by them after this manner, the apostles and elders and brethren send greetings unto the brethren, which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia." All right, so the church has this, right, it has this organized I'm going to use the word in the lowercase a, not the uppercase a, apostolic dimension to it. It sent out an assembly of representatives to make spiritual decisions on behalf of the church. Acts chapter 14, verses 24 through 28, it was the church that received the report of Paul and Barnabas. It was the whole church that received their report. not just the apostles and the elders. You know, folks, I realize, for instance, that church business meetings are not the most thrilling part of church membership. And I realize, I know that there are some people, when I announce that there's gonna be a missionary, they announce that they're not gonna be there. Well, they don't announce it, they decide it. But I would just point out to you that this is part of the responsibility of church membership. It was the church that was doing these things. It was the church that was sending people, and it was the church that was receiving them, and it was the church who was participating in the discussion, and it was church who was listening to the presentations. It was the church that had a vested interest in that. Turn to one last passage on this, 3 John, right towards the end of the New Testament, 3 John. 3 John chapter 1, verses 5-9 is, or verses 5-8 folks, is the most distinctly missionary-minded passage in the New Testament for the church. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers who have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort. Now that's the same Greek construction that we find in Acts 15, brought on their ways, the same Greek word. brought on their way. There's that sense of deliberateness. If you bring them forward on their journey after a godly sort, you want the right kind of missionary, thou shalt do well. Because that for his name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. And this by the way folks, if I can just interject something here about missions. This is something that comes up as a little bit of a controversy every once in a while. How long should a missionary live on missionary support before the church begins to support him? I don't know that there's a hard and fast answer to that, but there's nothing wrong with for a period of time until the church is established, the pastor living on missionary support. Paul did that. That was part of his argument was, I don't want to take money from the people I'm trying to reach. And this is what is argued in the text. They didn't take any money from them. And their world was radically different. It was expected. It was commonplace. It was welcomed to support religious people financially, oftentimes for sinister reasons, right? I mean, well, you wouldn't, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be funny, but you're not pastors. But I don't know how many times when somebody finds out I'm a pastor, they think that somehow I have some private hotline to heaven. Oh, you're a pastor? Well, will you say a special prayer for me? Pastors don't have special prayers. They just have the same prayers anybody else has. And I stand, what's the platform, two feet? I stand two feet above you right now, but I'm not two feet closer to heaven, right? God is everywhere. But in Paul's world, it was not uncommon for people to think it would be a good thing to have a religious person in their dew. And so there's probably a little bit of that to their logic. We don't take your money because we're not creating that kind of relationship with you. We serve the Lord. Anyway, verse number eight, that we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth, right? And then Right, verse number nine, I wrote to the church, but diatrophies who love to have the preeminence receive of the snot, right? So there's a ministry that the whole church is involved in, and then there's this dude diatrophies who is being disruptive. That's another subject and another topic. And I would just point out to you folks that these kinds of things, right, this is not busy work. that God has. Well, I got this group of people, you know, and I got to find something for them to do. I know what I'll make. I'll make them go to business meetings. That'll fix them. This is part of the life of the assembly. These are biblical responsibilities and authority that God gives to you, that God expects from you. That participation is what is supposed to happen. And in fact, thirdly, if you'll go back to 1 Corinthians 6, the church not only has authority over sinful members, or to deal with sinful members, and authority to deal with very real and sometimes very deep spiritual issues, right? I mean, well, we don't deal with that stuff. Our pastor is the church theologian, and we let him handle the hard questions. But the church itself was up to the years, its years, on the issues of its day. Can Gentiles get saved? Must Gentiles be circumcised? And it was the church that was participating in those kinds of theological debates. And in fact, Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 6 that the church has judgment in areas Paul calls things of this life. This life. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 1 through 7, we have church members in the legal courtroom with each other over some kind of conflict. I mean, we might presume it's a business conflict, but it's not necessarily a business conflict. It's just a conflict. And John Doe and Paul Doe have gone to court with each other. against each other. They've gone to the Roman courts. And Paul is shocked. Paul is shocked that the church, right? Boy, this, I am not gonna go to any church and air my dirty laundry. In fact, folks, I really am not on a rant against large churches, but I am on a rant against anybody who would join a large church in the thought that they could just attend a church and not have to be involved with the nitty gritty of church life. The church at Jerusalem was a large church. and everybody had to be involved with the nitty-gritty of church life. So notice the way Paul begins to talk to them. Verse number two, do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life. If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame, is it so? There's not a wise man among you? No, not one that should be able to judge between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with his brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you. There is utterly a fault among you. Now, what it means to judge the world in angels is one of those things that is debated forever and ever. Does it mean that a good life is condemnation of the world? Is that what he means there? Noah condemned the world by the building of his ark. It was his faith. Some people think that this is a reference to the fact that because we are in Christ and Christ is the judge, John 5.22, that's what he means. Yet another is that God will at some level and in some ways actually delegate judgment to his people. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 19.28, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And that's kingdom judgment, not final judgment. So Jesus is the chief shepherd and then he has under shepherds, he delegates authority. Jesus is the judge, but he can delegate judgment to others and maybe he will. The point that I want to make is this, folks, is that when God looks at you, and again, I know that some of what I'm saying is colored by the fact of where I went to school and the perspective that I was taught. you are not in any way inferior beings because you're simply church members, but that you are fully functioning members of Christ's body with responsibilities and authority in your own realm. And God would be shocked at the notion that there is not judgment-making capability among the assembly. So it would not be uncommon to find a New Testament church dealing with a sinning brother. It would not be uncommon to find a New Testament church up to its ears in two members who are in conflict with each other. These are things that happen in local churches. So there is genuine and real authority that is vested in an assembly. not just sit and listen, or in your case, sit and listen and then serve. Part of that service is real decision-making power. Now it might be that at times, the pastor and the deacons are gonna be kind of the first line. It's gonna come to them first, and then it goes to you. But the church in the New Testament participated in hard things, dealing with people's sin, is a hard thing, especially if they're being difficult about it. Dealing with doctrinal matters are hard things. And yet the New Testament church participated in them. And I'm dealing with this, folks, right? I'm kind of winding this down. Next week, I'm gonna talk to us about programs. I've said a few things about programs. I just wanna talk about church programs in general. And then the week after that, I have a few loose ends to tie up and talk a little bit more personal nature. and then we're gonna go on to something and go back to the Bible, because quite honestly, this is killing me. This kind of stuff is draining me, and I would rather go back to trying to read a Hebrew text of the Old Testament. But I just wanna point this out, folks, because in any pastoral transition, one potential pitfall is a conversation about authority, Who has it? Who has authority? And we all know folks, right? I mean, these are the easy ones. These are the cream puff shots, right? It's easy to go, somebody is abusing their authority. Somebody's trying to be a diatrophist. Much farther under the radar, but just as realistically sinful, is a church that fails to embrace the responsibility and authority that God has given it. If all elders are pastors, then in Acts 14.23, it was the church that chose its pastors. And the New Testament model and the Baptist model has been that churches choose their pastors. Churches choose their pastors. So let me just read this to you. And I'll be happy to provide you with a copy of it. We do not refer to this on a regular basis, but we do have a document somewhere that is our church constitution. So I want you to know what it says. Some of you are here. We redid our constitution in 1994. It's 30 years old. Article six, election of officers. Section one, the pastor. The members of the church will pray earnestly that God will guide them and send his choice of them as pastor. The most senior assistant pastor, along with the deacons, shall form a pulpit committee and begin to search for qualified candidates. Any man must agree with the statement of faith to be considered as a candidate for the office of pastor. Any candidate must meet the requirements of 1 Timothy 3. In the event of a vacancy in the office of pastor, the senior assistant pastor will act as interim pastor until the office of pastor is filled. A three-fourths vote by a quorum of the church will be needed to extend a call to a candidate. Inasmuch as pastors are called of God and not hired by the church, only one qualified candidate will be considered at a time. He shall be invited to preach in the services. He shall be interviewed by and have liberty to interview members of the church. Upon a successful vote, article six, section one, subsection E, the chairman of the pulpit committee shall extend a call to the candidate on behalf of the church. No other candidate will be considered until the previous one is determined whether it is God's will for him to accept the call of the church. So that's pastors, that's me. So if I keel over tonight, right, there it is, I have just read you from the Constitution, the selection process of what will happen, okay? Section two, assistant pastors. The members of the church will earnestly pray that God will guide them. The pastor shall seek qualified candidates for the office. The church will vote to extend a call to the man recommended by the pastor. Three-fourths of a quorum will be required to extend a call to a prospective assistant pastor. Any candidate must agree with the statement of faith and meet the requirements of 1 Timothy 3. The fundamental difference is in the absence of a pastor, the most senior assistant pastor, which we do not have, and the deacons, which we do have, form the pulpit committee. In the selection of a assistant pastor, I am the sole pulpit committee. That's the way the Constitution reads 1994. And when I pulled that up to see what it said, I went, the first thing I said was, it is obvious that 30 years ago we were not anticipating 2024. We were not giving any thought to, well, what about an assistant pastor who's only really here because we think he might become the senior pastor? So, however that process works, folks, right, at the end of the day, you are the final authority on who the pastor is. You're the final authority on who the pastor is. The church votes on the pastor. That's the way the Constitution reads. That's what Acts 14.23 says. The only exception to that is Titus, where Paul told Titus to appoint pastors. And since we don't have an apostle who's telling us what to do, we're gonna go with the Acts 14 model. So whatever the process that we go through to put a man before you, what will happen is this, there will only be one man put forth at a time, and both you and he will have to decide that it is the will of the Lord for him to be here. Because that is an authority that is delegated to you. And you cannot refuse the responsibility.