The following message was recorded at Antioch Presbyterian Church, an historic and charter congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, ministering to upstate South Carolina since 1843. Come and visit us at the crossroads of Greenville and Spartanburg counties. Experience our past and be a part of our future. For more information, visit AntiochPCF.com. Father and our God in heaven, we bless your name and we thank you for loving us and your kindness to us in Christ Jesus. We ask now your blessing on this study this morning as we build on what we've learned in the past and now looking back to your sovereignty in worship, consider your sovereignty in the church. and consider how then we are to order the affairs of the church as a congregation, as elders, as officers, as members for the promotion of right worship. All this we pray in Christ's name, amen. All right. Acts 4 has an interesting verse in it describing the work of the apostles as elders in the church. In Acts 4, The men are running into problems of life, not problems of death, but issues involving church administration and serving the people of the church. There's a real issue here in I think it's in Acts 4, if I got that right, or maybe, no, Acts 6, I'm sorry. In Acts 6, building on what has happened in Acts 4, the congregation of those who believe were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to all, and with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. An abundant grace was upon them all." And so there's a lot of fruit in the early church, in the apostolic church we might say, and that produces an issue. An issue that's recorded for us in chapter 6. At this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. And so what the twelve disciples did, or what the twelve apostles did, we should say, is they summoned the congregation of the disciples and they said, listen, It's not fit for us to neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer, as we see later on in the passage, in order to serve tables. But serving tables is so critically important that somebody needs to do it. And we'll do it. But we really should be focusing on arranging the affairs of the church's worship, what we considered last week. And so what happens? We have in Acts chapter 6 the first election of officers in the church by what we might recognize as the standard operating procedure of the church, how officers are elected in the church. What is the result of that? Well, six or seven men are chosen to serve as deacons. And the result is, the Word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. See how important it is that the Church's worship would increase, that God gives very particular instructions and examples, then, for how the Church is to be governed. And that's our subject today, God's sovereignty in the Church. Last week, we covered what I call the Climax Membership Class, God's Sovereignty in Worship, because salvation is not an end in and of itself. It is for the purpose of calling men, women, and children, and nations to worship the living God. Our salvation is ordered unto the worship of God. Worship is the ultimate goal here. And now everything that we cover from this point forward is going to look back to that week when we talked about worship, because that's the church's mission, the extension of a worshiping community, a kingdom of grace through worship, namely through preaching, praying, and sung praise, which is going to mark the church. Westminster Confession of Faith 25.3, therefore, says, unto this Catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and perfecting of the saints in this life to the end of the world, and doth by his own presence and spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto. So, as we consider what it means for the visible and catholic that is universal not roman catholic but the visible church to be the stewards of the elements of worship the ordinances and all the practice thereof we are going to move from the regulative principle of worship now to the regulative principle of church government or just church And if you want to use even more clinical words in government, business, affairs, administration, operation, how the church operates under Christ our head. The church is to operate only in that way which God directs it to operate in his word by explicit, precept, and approved example. So by direct orders or by laying before us, as we saw in Acts 4 and 6, an example that He blesses and approves and even commends to us by recording for us the success of these examples. My plan today is to go over the six principles of how the church functioned in the days of the apostles. Six identifiable principles, which I've written up on the board for us today, that are recorded in Acts and in Paul's epistles. But before we do that, I have to cover a couple of preliminary basics and then in future weeks we'll expand upon this as we consider the relationship of worship and church in the PCA and here at Antioch. And that's really the subject of this back half of the membership class. I am dependent on, and I'm happy to say this, a little book by a Northern Irish Presbyterian minister of yesteryear of the 19th century, Thomas Withereau, The Apostolic Church, Which Is It? This is a pretty corny edition of it in terms of cover design, but don't judge a book by its cover. This little book is worth its weight in gold, and it has been republished in a thicker volume, an anthology of Withereau's writings, including a very good treatment on infant baptism, or covenant baptism, and other writings on the church. And so he's very good on this subject. Also James Henley Thornwell is exceedingly good on ecclesiology and doctrine of the church. Thomas Peck, Ephraim Peck, is also very, very good. And then more recent authors, Guy Watters, Ryan McGraw, and other scholars of like caliber. All right. Seeing a close relationship between how the church worships and how the church functions in other areas of operation is profoundly scriptural. For example, the rules that govern how the Old Testament church was to function tell us that while it was certainly a nation and a political society, it was a kingdom in every sense of the word. It was fundamentally, at root, a worshiping community. And so, the affairs of the Kingdom of Israel all served the purpose of worshiping the God of Israel. Whereas, if you look at surrounding nations, they tend to flip that around. And the worship component of, say, ancient Egypt, or ancient Sumeria, or Mesopotamia, or Persia, or Babylon served the governmental affairs. And that wasn't the case in Israel. In Israel, all the government stuff was supposed to serve all the worship stuff, we might say. Most of the regulations that God gives to Israel actually concerned the worship of the church or the nation as a church and detail how to ensure the purity and holiness of that worship. in contrast to the impurity and the degradation and profanity of the worship of the surrounding nations. In the New Testament, then, Christ our King announces that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the clearest expression of this kingdom is the New Testament church, or what we call the apostolic church, the church led by the apostles, as a spiritual commonwealth It's just community, koinonia, fellowship. That's a never-ending conversation. Both societies, church and state, churchly society and secular political society, have God-ordained power and governing structures. In the church, this is intimately related to worship, and public worship in particular, intimately related to how we interact with one another in fellowship, intimately related to the rite administration of the sacraments. In Matthew 18, the process by which an unrepentant person is put out of the church is laid out in close connection to corporate prayer, which is one of the essential elements of our worship. You can't have worship without prayer. You can't go into church discipline or address sin without prayer. You see how closely associated these concepts are. And after laying out the famous Matthew 18 procedure of confronting a professing believer caught in sin, Jesus says this in Matthew 18, verses 19 and 20. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst. When Paul addresses a flagrant sin of immorality in the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, he makes clear that those reading his letter as the overseers or elders of the church should have removed the unrepentant person from the church's midst. Where is the church gathered? What is the church's midst? It's corporate worship. That is what he's referring to. In 1 Corinthians 14, that chapter has many apostolic directives for how worship is to be conducted decently and in order, a phrase I jokingly referred to last week as the Presbyterian life verse in relation to church government. but it is first about the church's worship before it's even about the church's operations. As we saw from Acts 6, as we'll consider in further detail today and elsewhere, the way the church operates as a church is in connection with corporate gatherings for worship, breaking of bread, and fellowship. Thus, how the Church worships and how the Church functions or operates otherwise are closely, even inseparably intertwined and related. All that we do, and how Jesus runs the Church, is for the sake of worshiping God, flows into and out of that. So, how does the Church function? How is the Church governed? How does Jesus, our King, run or govern? rule his church as a visible society? We're going to answer that with six principles drawn out of scripture. First one, the popular election of officers. After Christ's ascension, popular election. is the mechanism by which men are appointed and subsequently ordained to office in the church. We begin here, not in Acts chapter 6, but in Acts chapter 1, with a preliminary account about election. Acts 1, 13 through 26, we read this, when they had entered the city, that is, the 11 disciples, or just the disciples after Christ's ascension, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is, Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all, with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. This is a little church, a little house church, in Jerusalem, in the very beginning, right after Jesus ascends to heaven. At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons was there together, and said, Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, that is Iscariot, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry. Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out." Peter was rather graphic in his description of how Judas took his own life, and it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem, so that in their own language, that field was called Chalcaldama, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate, and let no one dwell in it, and let another man take his office. Therefore, It is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So, They put forward, that is the whole congregation that's there gathered, put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Eustace, and Matthias, and they prayed, and they said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles." Notice that when Peter describes the requirements or qualifications, it is to the congregation that he's addressing himself. Since there was only one spot to fill among the apostles, the casting of lots was appropriate for picking one or the other of apparently equally qualified candidates who were nominated by the congregation. So even though ultimately the selection was made by lots in this one very unique case, yet the precedent that's going to continue through church history of popular election is even here in seed form. because the nomination of the two men was by the congregation itself. Now this precedent of election by a show of hands or by popular vote is crystallized then or reaffirmed in Acts 14 verse 23. We read, But it's not that they said, all right, you and you are elders now. It's that they, by a showing of hands, are appointing the elders. That is, the congregation is showing their hands. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church in this way. That word is chairo. Here, I'll write it up on the board, not that anyone is reading Greek other than maybe one of us, but kyraton ne santes. which literally means to elect or appoint by a show of hands. And so Paul and Barnabas are appointing these men by a show of hands from the congregation. It's not that Paul and Barnabas are standing up front saying, we vote for him, okay, he's an elder. But they're saying he is an elder according to the vote by the congregation. Chiro is... Hands, and then the rest of it is referring to a show of hands. Acts 6, 1-6, I already read that. We have the genesis of the office of deacon in the church. The deacon would exercise authority and service in the material and logistical concerns of the church so that the elders could fully devote themselves to the ministry of worship. that is, prayer and the word. But the elders here, the apostles in Acts 6, did not arbitrarily appoint the men as deacons. Instead, they gave us an example, which we are to follow now, that the apostles are gone. Namely, a precedent, an example of electing office bearers by popular vote, not by imposition of office bearers from higher authority. Now, at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it's not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, Brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task." So you see, the selection and the appointing is by popular vote under the oversight of the elders. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation, and they chose, that is the congregation chose, Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochris, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, and these they brought before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them. The congregation elected, the apostles laid on of hands, we'll get there in a little bit, and that's how you have the appointment of officers. First, very important principle, Presbyterianism and biblical church life is the popular election of officers. Even in a mission work, when you become a member of a mission church, or if you become a member of a church that already has elders, your membership vows constitute your election of them, your assent to them as elders. But when admission work goes to a particular church, which hopefully we'll vote on next week, Lord willing, the members of this congregation will have the opportunity then to vote by secret ballot, not a visible show of hands, but functionally the same thing, to vote for Dr. Piper and for me to continue serving as your pastors. So, it's not just assumed in the taking of membership vows to a mission work, but actually is demonstrated in the particularization. Moving on. Second principle. Much ink has been spilled about what the words presbyteros and episkopos, presbyter or elder, and overseer, epi meaning over, skopos like scope out, meaning seer, presbyteros is just elder. What do these words mean? Do they describe two different offices in the New Testament? In fact, it's our conviction, and I believe this to be true, that presbyteros and episkopos are one in the same office. Two words that describe the same function, variously denominated as elder or as bishop or overseer or as pastor even. All of those words are used interchangeably in the New Testament. The words refer to the same office. In Philippians 1.1, Paul refers to bishops and deacons, but he doesn't mention elders. Why? Because elders were already mentioned under the word bishops. In James 5.14, James calls for the elders of the church, but he doesn't mention bishops. Why? Because he's using a different word describing the same function. Why not mention both at the same time? To do so would be redundant, but there's better evidence even for this principle than Philippians 1.1 and James 5.14. An even better one, Titus 1.5-7. In Titus 1, 5-7, I'll read this. It's important enough to actually read it for us. We read Paul saying this, for this reason I left you, Titus, and Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer or bishop must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, and so on. When Paul introduces the qualifications for elders, he then recapitulates and concludes in reference to bishops. He uses the two words to describe the same office. They're one and the same office with various functions, not only of presiding and serving as an elder, but of supervising the activity or functioning of the church as a bishop or overseer. And then in 2 John 1, the opening verse, so I'll put these verses up here too. Titus 1, 5-7, in my opinion, is really the strongest of all of these. But in 2 John, verse 1, the Apostle John refers to himself as an elder, as does Peter in 1 Peter, 5-1, they don't refer to themselves as bishops, but as elders. This could indicate a principle like all generals are military officers, but not all military officers are generals. All bishops are elders, but not all elders are bishops. Perhaps that's what it is. However, in Acts 20, 17 to 28 then, and this is key as well. In Acts 20, 17-28, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but Paul calls the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet with him and then he addresses them as bishops. And so it's not that all All bishops are elders but not all elders are bishops. It's both and. All elders are bishops and all bishops are elders. They're one in the same. They're numerically identical terms because they're two names for the same office as scripture uses these terms. I am both Mr. Groff and Pastor Groff. It's the same person that you're referring to. Elders are bishops, bishops are elders. That's the second principle, critically important. Third one, plurality of elders. Churches are to have more than one elder in them. They're not to have simply one elder or one pastor in them at a time. In Acts 14.23, You may recall that Paul and Barnabas are ensuring that a plurality of elders are being elected in every church they plant in that passage. They elected or appointed, by show of hands, elders in every church that they planted. In Acts 20, verse 17, Paul calls the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet with him on his way to Jerusalem. Not just the elder or the bishop, but all the elders of this church. Perhaps even all the elders of several congregations within Ephesus. He's calling a presbytery meeting. We'll get to that in a second. And then in Philippians... 1.1 again, Paul addresses himself to the church in Philippi. His salutation is directed to the congregation together with the bishops and the deacons. There were a plurality of bishops or elders in that church in Philippi that he's addressing there. This is normative. not just for the well-being, but for the being of the church, that you have elders. That's why when we restarted Antioch, it wasn't just Zach coming and planting a church all by himself, or Dr. Piper coming and planting a church all by himself, or even the two of us all by ourselves, though that would have been a plurality, but it was actually a session of elders. A group of men, seven men, at any one time, I think, we've always had six or seven elders on our session overseeing this work, even if they're not always here with us all the time. Yet the principles being applied in our unique circumstances. Number four. Ordination of elders. You might say the appointing of elders by laying on of hands after the electing of them by a show of hands was the action not just of one elder, one pastor, one bishop or archbishop or pope or whatever, but by a group of elders, which we commonly refer to as a presbytery, that is, a college of presbyters. And we'll get to that a bit more. Ordination is not the act of one man, but of the plurality of elders or presbytery. In our book of church order, which again, to show you what it looks like, typically in the PCA, it looks like a big blue binder, because we get little change packets every year when we have amendments to our constitution and we incorporate it. Other denominations will do their changes just every three years. And there's different strokes for different folks on that issue. Our Book of Church Order describes that principle pretty helpfully. The description I have for this, ordination as an act of the plurality of elders, is that ordination is the solemn designation of a person to ecclesiastical office with the laying on of hands. In its outward form, it consisted of three things, biblically speaking, fasting, prayer, and the imposition of hands. Laying on of hands was used When spiritual gifts were bestowed in Acts 8.17 and Acts 19.6, when the sick were miraculously healed in Mark 16.18 and Acts 9.17 and Acts 28.8, but also at the ordination of church officers without the conferral of extraordinary or miraculous gifts. So, when the deacons in Acts 6 were elected and ordained, there's laying on of hands by the apostles. They weren't giving them gifts of tongues or healing or anything like that, but they were recognizing that, by the means Christ has appointed and revealed to us, these men were being set apart for the work of being deacons. And then, again, similar functions in 13.1-3 of Acts, and then 1 Timothy 4.14 and 5.22, Paul refers to Timothy's ordination, when the presbytery laid on hands. In the New Testament, apostles and the evangelists who served with them, could perform an ordination ceremony by themselves, but this power is not one that adheres in the office of elder or bishop today." And so, just as a little side note, when we look at the Bible, we recognize four offices. Recognize the office of apostle, which was limited to those 12 men, and you have actually 13 because you get Paul, so 12 plus 1. And then you have evangelists that would be men like Timothy, perhaps Luke, John Mark, Titus, who had certain temporary authority in those very early years of the church while it was being built and spread across the Mediterranean basin and in the Near East and even into South Asia and I guess East Africa. And then those were special with the closure of the canon, the establishment of the church. We had two perpetual offices, that is until Christ returns. Elders and deacons. Elders are in two classes, teaching and ruling. We typically refer to teaching elders as pastors or preachers, ruling elders as just elders or ruling elders. Same office, different functions. Some denominations, even Presbyterian denominations, will see these as two separate offices. So they have what's called a three-office view. And then Calvin and some of the Dutch guys actually add a fourth office of church doctor, which would be like seminary professors and college professors who have a particular function in ensuring an educated ministry. But in the PCA, we just recognize two biblical offices within one, two different classes. adhering to their function more than anything else. But as I said, in 1 Timothy 4.14, Timothy's ordination was by the laying on of hands of the presbytery. In Acts 13.1-3, the setting apart of Barnabas and Saul or Paul for missionary work was done by a group. The verb laid their hands on them is in the plural again. In Acts 6.6, the ordination of deacons was done by the plurality of apostles as well, functioning as elders. So, in the apostolic church, ordination was not performed as a solo act when it was possible for the elders to gather together and have an ordination service together. It was the action of the elders functioning in a plurality. You might be wondering, why are we going over these principles? Not just so we know how the church functions, but we can recognize then when a church is not functioning biblically. Maybe some connections are being made, especially for those of you who've been in several different kinds of churches or seen them. Fifth principle, graded courts. So, in controversy, a local church would appeal then to a regional body And the regional body has the right to govern in a way, that is, review and control the actions of the lower or local court. And in the Presbyterian Church in America, we have three levels, local, regional, and national, corresponding to the local presbytery, that is your session of elders over congregation, the regional presbytery, which we just call presbytery, made up of all the teaching elders and then appointed delegate ruling elders from each congregation overseeing the work of the regional church, and then the national presbytery, which we call General Assembly. Some denominations, when they get to a certain size, will introduce another fourth layer between regional and national called synod. That's where we get the word senate. It's also from the same root, synod. Dutch churches and then some of our other Presbyterian brothers will use synod to refer to their national assembly because they're smaller denominations and the idea is one day they'll multiply their synods and then have a general assembly above it. But right now in the PCA we just have three. I don't foresee us having synods. anytime soon, maybe in the next 10 to 15 years, but there's no proposals currently for that. The graded courts principle is found in Acts 15. We don't have time to go through it all, but especially a few of the verses in Acts 15 where we have record of a doctrinal controversy which arose in the church as to what to do with Gentile believers. How Jewish are they supposed to be? It's basically the sum of it. And this is, some of the verses picked out from that chapter into chapter 16 are helpful. So 15-2, when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, The brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning the issue at hand. Now, the debate arose in the local church of Antioch. And it was kicked up then to the regional church meeting in Jerusalem. In verse 6, the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. They had a called presbytery meeting, a regional church leader meeting. And then 1522, then it seems good to the apostles and elders after their debate with the whole church to choose men from among them to send back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren to communicate their decision to the lower court as a form of control. So they've reviewed the issue, now they're going to control the outcome by sending men to represent the presbytery. Verse 23 we read, And they sent this letter by them, the apostles and the brethren, who are elders to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, who are from the Gentiles, greetings. And it continues with their instructions. Jumping down to verse 30, So when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. So, when things function properly in the graded courts, there's rejoicing because there's unity and concord and peace in the church and promotion of the truth. Acts 16, 4 then, we finish it off, well, now, while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem for them to observe. for the good of the church and the spread of the gospel. Think about it. If this didn't function the way it was supposed to, the church's advance among the nations, the Gentiles, would have been dead on arrival. But this graded court system which God gives to us is the mechanism by which then his missionary purposes are advanced and fulfilled. Went through all of that. Here's a quote, I think, from Witherow. If nothing was necessary before the apostles to pronounce an infallible deliverance, why was there such a thing as disputing in the assembly or even the semblance of deliberation? Or why should one apostle after another state his opinion? These events were permitted to take place and are recorded for our guidance. Under all similar circumstances, should any difference arise which cannot be settled within the limits of the congregation where it occurs, it is to be referred for settlement to the rulers of the church in their assembled capacities." All five of these principles rest upon the most important and sixth principle. The sole headship of Christ. Who is the head of the church? Christ alone. There is no temporal authority or potentate ruler who can claim to exercise authority or rule in and over the church. which belongs to Christ alone. Mark 12, 17. In temporal matters, an apostle bowed to the laws of the land as administered by the magistrate of a village. In spiritual matters, he would not bow to Caesar on his throne. No temporal prince has a right to act as a lord over the heritage of God. Referring to Mark 12, 17. What do we read in Mark 12, 17? Well, let's take a look-see. Mark 12, 17 says this. Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they were amazed at him. It's that simple. In temporal matters, we give to the secular authority that which by God's decree is rightly his. honor to whom honor is due for the sake of the office if not for the man but in spiritual matters Christ alone is Lord cannot surrender your conscience or or principles of worship to some physical authority. 1 Peter 5.3, 2 Corinthians 1.24, Galatians 2.11 all support this principle. I think I have time to read these for you, if I may. 1 Peter 5.3, we read this. nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." That's how elders function in the church, not as lords. Christ alone is Lord and head of the church. But as stewards, those who have been given a trust, who have been entrusted with a stewardship, a role, a function. 2 Corinthians 1.24, And 2 Corinthians is full of the humility of the Apostle as he pleads with the people in Corinth. He says, Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy, for in your faith you are standing firm. And then Galatians 2.11, right after 2 Corinthians, we read this again. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. Why? because Christ alone is head of the church and determines what it is the church is to believe and to do. The scripture, therefore, furnishes no ground whatever for believing that supreme power is deposited in any ecclesiastical officer any more than in any temporal prince. Christ alone is the head, not the pope, not the archbishop, not your pastor. but Christ, Christ and Christ alone. He's the head over all things to the church, Ephesians 1 20 through 23. Ephesians 5 23, Christ is the head of the church even as husband is head of his wife. And Christ is the savior of the body who cares for his church even as a husband is called to care for his wife. In Colossians 1 18, Christ is the head of the body, the church that he might have all the preeminence. is the word that's used there. He's the head over all and he alone receives the glory. Not your pastor, not a presbytery, not anything else, not a denomination, but Christ. Now, these six principles, we've gone over them quickly, but they're biblical principles. I hope that much is clear. There is one system of church government that enacts all six of these principles, but there is no church that does it perfectly. The Presbyterian or Reformed Church system of government is the only one that incorporates all six of these. Congregationalism does not. Independence does not. Prelacy or Roman Catholic Church or the Episcopal Church does not. Lutherans don't have it quite worked out like this either. They're closer to Episcopacy. And most Baptist churches are going to be congregational or at best independent and elder-led. But we as Presbyterians are the only ones that have all six. But we don't do it perfectly. We have no reason to boast in this. We can't say, we're the biblical ones. I mean, the Pharisees said that kind of stuff. But we entrust ourselves to the Lord, and we seek to follow his word as closely as we can to his glory, for he alone is head of the church. Wesley, I'll end with this reading from paragraphs four and five from Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 25, on the church. This Catholic Church, or Universal Church, through time and space, have been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And particular churches or congregations, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error, and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth to worship God according to his will. For God is sovereign, and he's sovereign in his church, just as he's sovereign in our worship, just as he's sovereign and gracious in our salvation. So with that, I'll close in prayer, and if there are any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Father in heaven, we bless your name, and thank you that you give to us clarity and instruction. But above all, Lord, we thank you for giving us grace, grace of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, grace of the head of the church over all preeminent. We pray that you make us like him and that the way we do things here at Antioch and in Calvary Presbytery and in the PCA and in other like-minded churches, in fact in all churches that bear the name of Christ, would more and more resemble and be in submission to that which you set before us to do. But protect us from pride. Protect us from presumption. Protect us from boasting in good order rather than boasting in the God of order. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to this message from Antioch Presbyterian Church. For more information about Antioch, visit us at our website at antiochpca.com.