You may, of course, be seated. Exodus chapter 3. This evening is where we will begin. Exodus chapter 3. And I really have no, in this entire little brief series, however long it lasts, I have no conscious ambition to really make any alterations or changes to anything. One of the things I've just learned as I've gotten older is that not only do I see some things differently, but I also see different things. So a couple of weeks ago, I talked to us about deacons. And we just kind of looked at the use of the word in the Bible. That's really all I'm endeavoring to do. This evening, we're going to begin, we will take two Wednesday nights to look at eldership. And again, I have no ambition to undermine our deacons or overthrow the deaconate or change things, but just to look carefully at what the scriptures actually say about some of these things. Let's turn our attention, well, let's pray, and then we'll turn our attention to the text this evening. Father, may we be a church that desires to know you by knowing your word, by knowing it well. And not just to know it intellectually, but to know it in our practices and in the way that we behave ourselves individually and conduct ourselves as a ministry. And I pray for your help to that end. In Jesus' name, amen. So again, a few weeks on the subject of church government. My plan is this. I spend a week on deacons. I spend two weeks on elders. I'm going to spend a week talking about the congregation because God has ordained an authoritative structure within the assembly. But the assembly itself has its own levels and areas of authority. And so that's something that we want to be mindful of as well. Among Bible-believing churches, many of them, not all of them, but many of them practice some form of congregational church government. And the most traditional model used by Baptist churches is the pastor deacon. model of church government. But as I mentioned, there are a number of Baptist churches, some of them incredibly conservative, who not only have deacons and pastors, but elders. And so we'll kind of turn our attention to that. Deacons are a biblical office. There is virtually no question about that. I mean, I suppose somebody could raise a question about it, but I don't think there's a legitimate question about it. It is handled as a church office. It is dealt with as a church office. The difficulty and the dilemma then with reference to deacons is exactly what their area of ministry and authority, if there is one, is. I had a couple of conversations with folks who pointed out that it's possible that in light of Acts 6, right, that the apostles appointed men to be over that particular ministry, that that is a delegation of authority. And I would not disagree with that. Again, I personally am somewhat troubled that Act 6 doesn't call those men deacons, but there are very many similarities. But it still does not give a full, robust explanation as to what the boundaries and the expectations of deacon ministry is. still rather limited there. The pattern is that they were under the authority of the apostles and the church. So again, tonight I wanna turn our attention away from that. I'm not gonna go back and revisit that, but I wanna talk about elders. The word elder, although we don't really use it, I mean, the Bible uses it, but we don't generally use it to describe pastors. It is one of three words that are used to describe what I do, Bishop, shepherd, elder are three words that describe what a pastor does. As I mentioned, kind of the dilemma with reference to deacons is, what are their biblical authorities? What are their biblical responsibilities? The dilemma with elders is this. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, all pastors are elders. Question is, are all elders pastors? In the Bible, are all elders pastors? Can you have pastors, elders, deacons, or can you have deacons and elders, all of whom are elders, some of whom function as pastors? We'll kind of talk about that while we go. And as always, when we encounter these kinds of dilemmas, There's generally a very good reason for the dilemma, and that is that there are passages that can be taken to defend either position. So I want to start in the Old Testament. I am not the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge on this, but I would begin by pointing this out, that the New Testament use of elder has Old Testament dimensions to it. It's not a new innovation. for the New Testament, and it's not, and I don't think that any of you would think that way, it is not something that the contemporary churches invented to distance themselves from conservative churches. Let's do what the other guys don't, let's have elders. Elders is a very old concept, and in Exodus chapter three and verse number 16, you have really the very first use of the word in any kind of a function capacity. Exodus 3.16, God says to Moses, go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. And of course, in Exodus 3, we have the call of Moses and the beginning of the deliverance of the Israelites and the establishment of Moses as a leader. So we have here these representatives, Gal, the elders of Israel. The word actually has reference to age. It is primarily a word that is used to describe the calendar. The very first use of the word is found in Genesis chapter 18, where both Abraham and Sarah are called old. old. That is why we refer to people of my age as elderly, because that is the real meaning of the word old. Now, there's no Bible, you're right, it's not, you're not young until you reach a certain age, and then middle age, and then the switch, and you're old, but it is a reference Today it's Genesis 25, 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, died in a good old age, an old man, an elderly man. He was, by the way, 175 years old and was gathered unto his people. I think we would probably all agree that 175 is pretty old. So just like with the word deacon, folks, and I'm not gonna spend much time in the Old Testament, but just like the word deacon, the word has both a kind of a descriptive use and a function use. A deacon is a servant, a minister, it is ministry, it is a function, and it is an office. An elder is a position, a status, so to speak, And this is something that is not always particularly popular in the Western culture, but God places great treasure in elderly leadership. There is just something to be said, folks, for experience. There just is. You don't have to be my age to have that kind of experience, but there is just something to be said for having some years under your belt that God seems to respect. And so, again, deacon is a function. It is a service. Elder is a status. It is somebody who has reached age and in the biblical world, somebody who then is worthy of respect by virtue of that age. And so the word, the officer use, the kind of the official use of it as it is in Exodus 3.16 is pretty consistent with the pattern that God has established throughout the scriptures. And that is that among the congregation of his people, he has those that he has assigned to some kind of leadership. Go and tell the elders and bring the leadership in and tell them. And that word is used 178 times in the Old Testament. So we're not gonna go any farther in the Old Testament than that. 178 times you have the word elder used. So let's then turn our attention to the word in the New Testament. And before we turn to the New Testament, I just wanna talk about it. I just wanna talk about the word as you find it in the New Testament. The word, the Greek word is presbyteros. Presbyteros. And I think that you can see where that goes. From presbyteros we get Presbyterian. And this is the word as we find it in the Greek language. What does it mean? It is not a word of denomination. It is, just like the word elder, a word of age. To be a presbyteros is to be old. To be old. So without occupying a biblical office, without discharging a single duty, it is entirely possible for you to be a presbyter simply by virtue of your age. The word is used a total of 60 times in the New Testament. 43 of those times it is used in the Gospels. So about two-thirds of its uses are in the Gospels with reference to the Jews and the Jewish religion and their practices. And you usually, not always, but usually you find it in conjunction with other people that we would think of in leadership positions. For instance, it is not uncommon in the 43 uses in the New Testament to read it this way, the scribes and the elders. The scribes and the elders. or the chief priests and the elders. So it is frequently used in conjunction with other people who have some form of leadership responsibility. But it is also the word that is used to describe the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He was the presbyteros. He was the oldest of the two. So that's the way that it is used in the New Testament. So we've kind of talked briefly about the Old Testament use and briefly about the New Testament use, but what we're really concerned with is the way the word is used with reference to New Testament churches. In the Old Testament, that's a Jewish system, and in the Gospels, that's a reference to the Jewish system, and we're not Jewish people, and we do not follow the Jewish system of worship. So let's turn our attention then, beginning in Acts chapter 11. All right, and I just wanna start in verse number one, which you will notice immediately doesn't use the word elder. Okay? Acts 11, one, the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. So, right? This of course immediately follows Acts 10, and in Acts 10, Peter has his vision. The sheet comes down, takes the gospel to Cornelius, who is a Gentile man. Cornelius gets saved. This creates a gigantic stir in the Jewish church community. So what follows is a conversation that is being held. Okay? So verse number two, when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him. rather than rejoice, there is division and contention over these Jewish people getting saved. If you will jump down to verse number 22, this is now a conversation that is occurring within the framework of the church. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. So, and we'll get to, in a few weeks we'll look at that passage again because here is a place where the authority of the church is being discussed. The church is heavily involved in addressing this, This controversy that flows out of the introduction of Gentile converts into what was believed to be a Jewish salvation is not just handed off to the apostles to resolve, and is not handed off to any other leadership exclusively to resolve, but is addressed certainly by the apostles, but it is addressed by the apostles publicly with reference to the church, who evidently has some involvement in this. One of the things that results from this, verses 19 through 26, is we have then the establishment of churches. 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 unto none but the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, speak unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus." See, there it is again, right? We have some people taking the gospel only to the Jews, and we're gonna have that Jewish contention. And we have people taking the gospel to the Gentiles, to the Greeks, the Grecians. And, that part of the world. And so this news, right? And the hand of verse number 21, the hand of the Lord was with them. A great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Now what? Now the church, verse number 22, commissions Barnabas, right? You need to go find out what's going on. You need to bring back a report. You need to be our eyes and ears on the ground, so to speak. And so all the way down through verse number 26, we have this, and that brings me to end to verse number 27. And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world which came and passed in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, So you get the geographical reference and this becomes the point. We have the first church established in Jerusalem. That's where the apostles are. That's where Peter preaches at Pentecost. That's where the great working is. That's where we have thousands of people in this church. And then the persecution hits around Stephen at the hands of Saul. And the people scatter. God sends Peter to deal with Cornelius. And the gospel is spreading as God intended, Acts 1.8. And now the churches are scrambling as to what to do about this new dimension. And then there is added to this, back to verse number 27. There came a prophet from Jerusalem to Antioch. And he said, there's gonna be a famine. There's gonna be a great famine in the land. So verse 29, the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea. All of that to get to verse number 30, folks, which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. They sent it to the elders. Are these elders who are pastors or are these elders who are not pastors? Acts chapter 14. Again, right? The elder conundrum is this, only this, all pastors are elders, but are all elders pastors? Acts chapter 14 and verse number 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed, on whom they believed. Again, I'm gonna post the question. Now, to a person who is convinced in the correctness of elder leadership, there is no question. But I'm gonna post the question. What kind of elders are these? Are these elders who are pastors, or are these elders who are elders? And we don't know, and I would argue that we don't know, and one of the things, folks, that really begins to complicate this, the whole picture, the whole picture the authority, and I'm not being critical of it, I'm just saying it's a complicating dimension. Paul sent men to pastor churches. He said to the Corinthians, I'm sending Timothy. I'm sending you Timothy. Treat him properly. And what is from a church government standpoint, at least to me, a staggering statement, Paul writes to Titus, for this cause left I be in Crete, that thou should have set in order things that are wanting and ordain elders in every church. So Paul authorized Titus who would appoint elders. Are those pastors who are elders? or those elders who are functioning as elders. Because folks, up into the church dimension, there were men who were elders who functioned in leadership positions that was not, and in fact, the gospels make it abundantly clear that they were not the spiritual leader. They were not priests. They were elders, but they were not priests. They were elders. They were not scribes, which was, you know, like a lawyer. I mean, and I don't mean a ambulance chasing kind of lawyer. I mean, a lawyer who is skilled in dealing with all the nuances of the Hebrew law, the Ten Commandments and the Torah. There were lawyers. Then there were elders. Obviously not the same functions, or they would have the same designations. To go back to verse number 23, and I don't think many of you do and that's fine because I've never tried to be a big proponent of it, but I use a Schofield reference Bible and if you have one, he has here a very helpful note on the word ordained. because it is not the normal Greek word that we would find when we think about ordination, the setting or appointing in place. This is a word that literally means the stretching forth of the hand. So whoever these elders were, whatever function they were employing, they were voted in by the remainder of the assembly. They stretched out their hand to have elders. in all the churches. And by the way, I don't know that this is anything that you think about, but whenever we talk about elders, we always talk about a plurality of elders, and one of the reasons that we do is because of Acts 14.23. You have a plurality, elders, with an S, but you have a church, singular. Every church had more than one elder. Every church had more than one elder. So we have two passages, Acts 11.27-30 and Acts 14.21-23 in which we have elders in which I would argue there is some legitimate question as to what their function was. Apart from the tradition that elders are leaders. But again, are they pastors? Are they pastors? Acts chapter 15. And of course in Acts chapter 15 we have yet another major controversy about the role and relationship of Judaism within the world of salvation, the first major controversy is this, can Gentiles get saved? And the church sorts through that, Acts 10 and 11, yes. And in fact, Peter will go on then to be the apostle primarily to the Jews, and Paul will go on to be primarily the apostle to the Gentiles, which is probably the reason why he changes his name from Saul to Paul. because Saul would be the way that you would use it if you were a Jew, and Paul's ministry was to Gentiles, so it appears that he embraced the Gentile rendition of his name. That's all. No big mystery there. That's the most likely explanation. Now we have this controversy, and the controversy is verse number one of Acts 15, 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. It's all right. I mean, you can just kind of see, you can kind of see how this is going, folks, right? You got some Jews who don't want Gentiles to get saved. This is a Jewish message, a Jewish gospel, a Jewish Messiah, no Gentiles. Now the Gentiles can get saved, okay. All right, Gentiles can get saved, but they have to get circumcised. But they have to get circumcised to get saved. So now we have another big controversy about that. And that's what's going on in Acts chapter 15, verse number two. So when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension, read this was a really, really, really big deal, and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. Again, are these elders who are pastors? or these elders in the continuity of the Jewish leadership sense of the word. Verse number four. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders. And they declared all things that God had done with them. Verse number six. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter. Verse number 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surnamed Barsabbas, and Silas, the chief men among the brethren. And they wrote letters by them after this manner, The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. So here are the apostles and the elders and the elders and the brethren. So again, I don't mean this in any kind of derogatory way to anybody, but they are a distinctive class within the New Testament assembly. There are a class of men who are the apostles. There are a class, and I think brethren there is generic, it's not masculine. There are the brethren, and there are elders, and there are elders. And we find the same kind of references in Acts chapter 16 and verse number four. As they went through the cities, they delivered them to decrease for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders, which were at Jerusalem. Acts chapter 20. Here it is much clearer that these elders are functioning as pastors. And from Miletus, verse 17, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. So there again, you have a plurality of elders and a singular of church. Now, I'm gonna work through this, and then I'm just gonna add, you know, my own, not my own twist, but one of the things that I think needs to be considered as we think through this. The elders of the church. When they were come to me, said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came in Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears, temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching, these are the elders, the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. And this is the reason, folks, that the elders in Ephesians 20 are most certainly pastors because there's the second of the New Testament words used to describe the work of a pastor. He is an overseer. So, these are pastors. Now here's where I think, here is something that I think that we need to think about that we don't necessarily think about. How many churches are in Ephesus? One. There's one church in Ephesus. Where did the church meet? Where did most New Testament churches meet? Most New Testament churches met in homes. The very concept that we have, folks, that we just presume, and here's what I don't want to do, right? We have to be very careful about reading our world back into their world. Westwood Heights Baptist Church is Westwood Heights Baptist Church. And I have no issue with that. Westwood Heights Baptist Church, Westwood Heights Baptist Church. But I just wonder if the Apostle Paul was still on planet Earth, if he would look at Westwood Heights Baptist Church, and Midwestern Baptist Church, and Twin Cities Baptist Church, and Midlands Bible Baptist Church, and any other Baptist church that you could name. Prairie Lane Baptist Church, Temple Baptist Church, And if Paul would not go, you know what? There's one church in Omaha. I'm gonna write a letter to the church in Omaha. And if that's the scenario, folks, and if every one of these houses has a man who is functioning as the pastor, then you have a plurality of eldership in a singular church. And that just seems to be, I'm not arguing that it is, but I think that it is something that we should not overlook when we talk about the necessity of the plurality of elders. For our purposes, the question would be how many elders does Westwood Heights Baptist Church need to have? Which is not entirely the same question as how many elders does the church in Omaha need to have? If that is indeed the question. So anyway, back to the text, the elders, and next week, right? Next week, my attention will be particularly upon the office of elder as pertaining to the work of the pastor. This week, a little more broad. Are all elders pastors? Look at Acts chapter 21, verse number 18. The day following went in with us unto, Paul went in with us unto James and all the elders were present. And then 1 Timothy chapter four. 1 Timothy chapter number four. Right, we're just kind of walking through the use of the word elder in the New Testament. And indulge me here, because I'm gonna, I'm gonna translate the, re-translate the word. Verse number 14, 1 Timothy 4, 14, Paul writes to Timothy, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. Because again, folks, The Greek word is the Presbyteros. And if you ask, well, why is it translated Presbytery here and no place else? And that is because the men that God used to translate our King James Bible had very distinctive ideas of their own about church government, and they really favored a Presbyterian form of church government. That was part of their conversation with the king, who did not favor a Presbyterian form of church government. He liked an Episcopal form of church government. He liked the Roman Catholic system and the Church of England system of having bishops, of having one man who was a superintendent of many churches who answered directly to him. And in the Presbyterian system, which he had had to deal with in Scotland, his native land, churches didn't really answer to the king. Presbyterian system didn't lend itself to that very easily. So we have the presbytery here, the denominational undercurrent to the word. Nothing wrong with the translation. It is the word presbyteros, but usually it's translated elders in our Bible. And then James chapter five and verse number 14. James chapter five, verse number 14. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Again, same thing, plurality of elders, singular of church. Plurality of elders, singular of church. Now, to return again to the burning question. All pastors are elders. Are all elders pastors? If every use of the word elder is a pastor, then there is, on the one hand, a simplicity to the way we handle the Bible, that all of those elders are pastors. And if all of those men are elders but are not pastors, I'm gonna come back to the point that I was trying to make two weeks ago, which is this, folks, right? That as you scan through your New Testament, there is a leadership assignment by the scriptures to elders that does not exist for the deacons. That is just the New Testament reality. These elders, whether they're pastors or not pastors, are brought in as leadership men to all of the important decisions that are being made. The church was there. Again, I'm not trying to take anything away from deacons or the way that we do it. I'm just saying that you don't find that office of men in any of these texts being addressed. But you do find the men who are deacons or who are elders in this text. Now, I got more notes here. Elders in the church is where elders declare pastors, but it's already 10 to eight. And so we'll take up next week, there are two passages in particular, I'll just give them to you if you want to get your heads up on them. One is 1 Peter 5, 1 and 2, and the other is 1 Timothy 5, 17, which is probably the most controversial of the texts when it comes to the pastor-elder dimension. So, to close this out, folks, biblically, Right? The issue is not, right? It's just like, there's no biblical issue over whether or not a church should have deacons. Deacons is a biblical office. The question that we have to solve, the answer is, what should we have a deacon do? And where does that task and authority come from? Who delegates it to them when the text of scripture does not? And the question with elders is not whether there should be a plurality of elders, because there is a plurality of elders of every church that you find in the New Testament. The question is, are all of those elders pastors? Or are there some who are pastors and some who are elders but not pastors? Which then kind of puts us really right, I mean, then we start to realize that we have some questions to resolve after that, right? Because in a church like ours, let's just say, and I'm not saying that we should, I'm just saying, let's say that we did. Let's say we went to the text and we went, you know what? We've been calling these guys deacons since 1972, but they're really more like biblical elders, let's make them biblical elders. Have we done anything wrong now by having a paid elder and unpaid elders? Is that a problem? Because one of the things that is generally argued is an equality of eldership, right? There's no distinction between an elder and an elder is an elder is an elder is an elder is an elder. So biblically there are elders and all elders are equal. I think we all understand folks that realistically it doesn't work like that at all. Right, in our world we have senior pastors, teaching pastors, pastors for vision, associate pastors, administrative pastors, youth pastors, music pastors. All elders are elders. One of the driving arguments, and I'll come back to this next, one of the driving arguments for elder leadership is that elder leadership, right, somehow magically fixes the problem. of one person wielding too much power. But folks, wielding too much power is a problem, if I could put it this way simply, is a problem of sinful personality, not a problem of biblical office. And let's just say that, and I am totally comfortable here. I mean, we've had deacon and pastor for the 40 years I've been here and the 12 years prior to that. That's the only Baptist world that I know. But let's say that the day comes that we bring on a man who we intend to be my replacement, and there are now two elders at Westwood Heights Baptist Church. Does anybody for a second think that we function as equals? That he's gonna get up on Monday morning and tell me what to do? I mean, does anybody really, I'm not trying to be funny and I'm not trying to be mean-spirited. Does anybody think it would work like that? That we would go to a Bible college and recruit a guy who's 25 years old, come in and go, look, they're just elders, right? All elders are equal. So you just tell me what to do and I'll do it. It doesn't work like that, folks. And nothing about the office of elder makes it work like that. And I'm not sure that anything in the New Testament or the Old Testament expects it to work like that. So. What the elders do is a little bit, again, to me it's one of those things that it is worthy of our consideration, but any position that we take is going to have weaknesses and parts that are difficult to answer. Okay, I'm going to stop there.