The following sermon, entitled, Officebearers as Servants unto the People, was preached on the morning of January 8th, 2023 at Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Redlands, California. If you enjoy listening to our sermons, we encourage you to come worship with us. For more information on upcoming service times and Bible study opportunities, please visit our website at hopeprc.org. We open God's Word this morning to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12, we will read the first 19 verses. And the text for this morning will be v. 7. That is, the focus will be on v. 7, although we will draw from the bulk of the reading. 1 Kings 12, beginning at v. 1, And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. And it came to pass when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt heard of it, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, that they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will serve thee. And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. And the king and king Rabom consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever.' But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and which stood before him. And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter. And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father did laid you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My Father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him. And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My Father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke. My Father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. Wherefore, the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that he might perform his saying which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. So when all Israel saw, the king hearkened not unto them. The people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then came Rehoboam, Adoram, who was over the tribute, and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore King Raibom made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. Thus far we read God's Word. The text for this morning's sermon is verse 7. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever." Sometimes negative examples can be just as instructive as a positive one. Certainly, when we are learning something, we need the positive instruction. We need good models. We need to be told what to do or how to go about a certain thing. There has to be the positive, but often what can be of a help along with the positive is some negative example. This is what not to do. This is how not to behave yourself. And that can be helpful because can keep us from making certain mistakes that we would otherwise make, and it can help clarify the positive. And it's with that in mind that we consider this passage on this occasion. The occasion this morning is the installation of men into the offices of elder and deacon. And in light of the ordination of these three men into office, it is appropriate that we have a sermon that focuses on the calling of office bearers. And it's with that in mind that we consider this history of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and his folly as a king and ruler among the people. For he is a negative example. A negative example that we must learn from. And what we see especially this morning was his folly in disregarding the wise counsel that was given to him at the outset of his time as king. Wise men told him, be a servant unto the people. And Rehoboam forsook that counsel. And that's the counsel we want to consider this morning. The counsel itself is positive. It's good instruction that comes to those who are in the offices of minister, elder, and deacon. V. 7, Be a servant unto this people. And we look at that counsel through the negative lens. of Rehoboam who failed to heed this word. So this morning, we consider the office bearers as servants unto the people. Office bearers as servants unto the people. First, we will look at Rehoboam's failure. Second, at the office bearer's calling. And then third, at the people's patience. Verse 7. The heart of verse 7 reads, Be a servant unto this people. This was the good, wise counsel that was given to Rehoboam early on in his reign as king. as a response to the request of the people who had come to Rehoboam with a petition. And we read of that in v. 4. V. 4, the people come to Rehoboam saying, thy father made our yoke grievous, now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will serve thee. People speak of a yoke. Children, a yoke is that heavy piece of wood that would be placed upon the shoulders of two animals that would connect back to a plow that the animals were to drag along. The people speak of thy father, Rehoboam's father, making our yoke grievous. They're talking about Solomon and his time as king. Solomon has died. Rehoboam's now the new king. And they're saying, your father's yoke, the burden that he placed upon us was grievous. It was heavy. It was oppressive. And what they have in view are really two main things. First, the taxes that they had to pay. And second, the labor, the work that was required of them. The taxes and the work were grievous, the people were saying. And now their request in v. 4 is make that lighter. Lessen the load for us, and we will serve you. And now in considering that request, there is a question as to whether this was a legitimate and fair request. And there's a debate that goes back and forth, because on the one hand, we do have to recognize who's speaking here. The spokesman is Jeroboam. A man who's been told he's going to be king, and who no doubt has his eyes on the crown, and will do anything to get that crown so that, from a certain point of view, this could be propaganda. This could be a lie just to stir up trouble. In addition, when we look back at the reign of Solomon, we see that it was a reign of peace and prosperity. When we read the preceding chapters, we do not get the impression that Solomon ruled the people as a tyrant. So on the one hand, this seems to be an overstatement of the case. But yet on the other hand, there seems to be some legitimacy to it. After all, during Solomon's reign, we had these massive building projects that took place. There was the building of the temple, and then there was the building of the king's palace, and then there were other building projects on top of that. All of which would have required a lot of money and a great workforce to complete them all. In addition, as we'll see in a moment, these counselors, these old men speaking to Rabehoam tell him, in essence, heed this request. Grant what they are asking for, which would be evidence that this is a legitimate request. So how are we to evaluate this request of the people? Take this grievous yoke of your father and make it lighter. Well, probably the reality is somewhere in between the two extremes. Probably, the case is being overstated that it was not as bad as they are making it out to be. But yet at the same time, there seems to be an element of truth to it. And because those large building projects have been completed, it does seem to be a fair request to say, yoke the burden lighter, lower the taxes, and reduce the amount of required labor." That's the request of the people. In response, Rehoboam asks for time. Verse 5, and he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. And what Rehoboam does during those three days is he seeks advice. He seeks advice from two different groups of people, and they give two very different sets of advice. First, Raibom goes to the old men. who had stood as counselors to his father." That's verse 6. And, "...King Raibom consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?" It speaks of these men as old men. It's telling us these men served right alongside with wise Solomon. They were a part of the group of those who governed the nation and helped establish and maintain that rule of peace and prosperity. And all of this is telling us these are wise, competent men. And in harmony with that, they give good advice. The advice of v. 7, and they spake unto Him saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be Thy servants forever." And now we'll explain the details of that language more when we get to the second point, but for now, we notice that they're basically saying heed the request. Go ahead and reduce the burden of the people at this time. That's the advice of the old men. Berea Bohm did not like that advice, and so he sought the advice of young men even as we read in v. 8, but he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and which stood before him. These young men were his buddies. His pals. The guys he had grown up with. The guys who knew him and the guys whom he trusted would tell him what he wanted to hear. And that's exactly what they did because they gave the exact opposite advice even as we read in verses 10 and 11. And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. Now whereas my father did lay to you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." Rehoboam, here's what you tell them. It's going to get worse. Rehoboam, you need to show them who is boss. You tell the people, taxes are going up because my little finger is going to be thicker than my father's loins. It's going to get harder. And the same applies to the required work, the forced labor, so that whereas my Father chastised you with whips that would have left a welt, I'm going to chastise you with scorpions, a whip that has sharp pieces of metal or rocks attached to the end that would rip open the flesh. That was the advice of these young men. And the folly of Rehoboam was that he forsook the wise advice of the old men and instead went along with the advice of the young men. Even as we read in v. 13 and following, and the king answered the people roughly and forsook the old men's counsel that he gave them and spake to them after the counsel of the young men. And then what follows is a repetition of their words. Rehoboam gladly went along with the advice of his buddies. But the reality is, he had no interest in listening to those old men. That is, when he was going to the young men, it's not as though he thought, well, I should get two different sets of opinions and see which one's better. But he's already made up his mind. That comes out in v. 8, we read, but he forsook the old counsel of the men. So before he's ever even heard what the young men said, he'd already decided I'm not listening to those older guys. And what is more, he identified with the young men. It comes out in how he speaks to them. When he spoke to the old men, he said at the end of v. 6, how do ye advise that I may answer this people? He's viewing himself as separate, distinct from the old men. But when he comes to the young men, he says to them in v. 9, what counsel give ye We may speak. To the old, He said, I may speak. And now He says, what should we say? What should we do? He identified with them. And thus, He was looking for them to tell them what He wanted to hear. And what He wanted to hear was, Rehoboam, be a tyrant. Bully the people into submission. Rule them with an iron fist. Because that was his view of what it was to be a king. And in that approach, Rehoboam was a failure as a king and thus a failure as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, as a king, Rehoboam is indeed a type that is a shadowy revelation in the Old Testament in the form of a real figure that points us ahead to our Savior Jesus Christ and His salvation. And Rehoboam is what we would call a negative type in that we learn about our Savior Jesus Christ by way of contrast. And what a contrast there is. especially in the message of Rehoboam versus the message of our King Jesus Christ. Think about the message that Rehoboam is sending to the people. Taxes are going up. The required labor is going to grow so that Rehoboam's message is that as a people, you must pay, pay, pay, and you must work, work, work. But that's not at all the message of Jesus Christ. The message of Jesus Christ is what we hear Him saying in the Gospel when He says, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And he shall find rest unto your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Do you hear the contrast? Christ does not come to His people over whom He rules and says, you have to Pay up for your sins. You must atone for them by yourself. Nor does he say you have to earn your way into God's favor by your works. But the message is just the opposite. The message of Christ the King is that you do not have to pay for your sins by yourself. You do not have to earn your way into heaven by your own works. And Christ is able to say that because of His saving work on our behalf. Because you see, congregation, Christ is the one who paid, paid, paid. Because He came into this world to take upon Himself our yoke, our burden. And it was far heavier than anything that Rehoboam could possibly lay upon the people of Israel. For the yoke, the burden that Christ took upon Himself was the weight of our sin and the guilt of it. And He carried that burden. He bore that burden all of His life long to the hill of Calvary. where He paid the debt that we owe for our sins. Understand that that debt was something far greater than any sort of scourging with a scorpion that Rehoboam could afflict the people with. If you understand, at the cross of Calvary, it was God Himself that dealt grievously with His Son, Jesus Christ, and that God unleashed the fury of His wrath upon Him. Jesus Christ endured the agonies, the torments of hell itself so that He might pay for all of our sins. So that the message of Christ is not, you have to pay, you have to make up for your sins, but He's the one who comes to us and says, I paid the debt for you. My burden, my yoke, it's easy, it's light. But not only did He pay the debt, He also did the necessary work on our behalf. He's the one who worked, worked, worked. Because His saving work was not just that He bore the punishment for our sins, but that He fulfilled all righteousness. He kept the law of our God perfectly. He obeyed perfectly, and therefore, Live the life of perfect obedience that can be imputed, transferred over to us as the ground, the basis for our justification. So that when it comes to being right with our God, there's no work required of us. There's no burden, there's no yoke placed upon us in that regard either. Do you see the sharp contrast between these two kings? And now what stands behind this is the difference in their hearts. Rehoboam's heart was filled with selfishness. Rehoboam was unwilling to serve others because he expected others to serve him. But not so with our Savior Jesus Christ. For He tells us in Mark 10 v. 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto. That is, not to be served, but to minister, to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. That's what explains His willingness to take upon Himself our burden, our yoke. That's what explains His willingness to come into this world and live a life of perfect obedience. He came with a servant's heart He came as one who is meek and lowly. And it was as a servant that Jesus Christ accomplished our salvation. So congregation, behold, you're a real king. The king we need. Not one of those Old Testament figures. Not even the positive examples. The King we need is Jesus Christ. And what a great King He is as one who was a servant unto the people. So the main thing we must see this morning is our King, Jesus Christ. But at the same time, there is important instruction for the office bearers in the church of Jesus Christ. As office bearers, we must learn from the negative example of King Rehoboam. For as a king, Rehoboam was not only a type pointing ahead to Christ, but he was an office bearer in the church of that day. For Israel as a nation, and then later Judah, was God's covenant people. The church of that day. And therefore, the prophets, priests, and kings, the leaders in the nation, really have a parallel to the leaders in the church today. The ministers, the elders, and deacons. And so there's application for the office bearers of the church, especially the elders who occupy the kingly office in the New Testament church. And there are four lessons that the office bearers must learn from this history. First, for a reason, this is the primary lesson, the calling to be a servant unto the people. That was the word. given to Rehoboam in verse 7. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them..." Men, serve the people. That is, give of yourself your time. Your energy, your abilities, your resources for the good of the congregation as a whole. For their advantage, for their salvation, for their welfare. Let us say with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. And as office bearers, we are to serve the people with a servant's heart. You see, when v. 7 emphasizes the calling to be a servant, it's not just repeating that calling for the sake of repetition, but there's a point to be made because it starts with, if thou wilt be a servant unto the people, and wilt serve them. There's the serving that comes secondly, but in front of that is, we must be servants. That is, we must have that attitude in our hearts. A meek, a lowly, a humble view that makes us willing to get down on our hands and knees and to perform the lowliest tasks. And we're to be servants recognizing who this people is. This is God's people. This is Christ's church. Notice that in the text. And they speak unto Him saying, if Thou wilt be a servant unto this people, Rehoboam. Unto God's covenant people. Unto those who've been purchased with the blood of Christ. Unto those who are covered with the blood of Christ. Those whom Christ himself delights in. That's the people in view here. That's when we recognize Who the congregation is, that then is the impetus in part to serve, to be servants, recognizing how precious, how valuable, how dear the flock is to Christ the King. Be servants. Is that how we view our offices, men? Is that what we have as our expectation? That being an office bearer means being a servant in the church of Jesus Christ? Or, do we have the same mentality as Rehoboam? That being an office bearer means everybody else is supposed to serve me? That ought not be. This is a negative example and we must avoid falling into this error and this is a real danger, a real threat for the church today. There is a growing number of articles and even books that address the topic of what is called spiritual abuse. Not spousal abuse, not sexual abuse, but spiritual abuse that is the abuse that takes place when one who is in a position of authority uses that position, uses his office, his authority to force, to manipulate, to bully, to domineer, and to control those who have been placed under him with a view to accomplishing whatever goal or objective that man has in mind. That must not be true of us. that as office bearers we ever bully the people into submission because God's Word calls us to be servants who serve the people who've been placed under us. And to do so out of gratitude for Christ's service towards us. He was willing to get down, come down into this world, take upon Himself our sins to bear that yoke for us as a servant. And now out of gratitude for what He's done for us, not just as a whole congregation, but now in particular as office bearers, we are now to serve those whom He has placed in our midst. Out of thankfulness for His work on our behalf. So that, first of all, is the lesson for office bearers that we are to be servants unto the people. Second, learning from the negative example, we must speak lovingly rather than roughly. Part of Rehoboam's failure was how he spoke to the people. Verse 13, the king answered the people roughly. He was harsh both in the content of what he said and the manner in which he spoke it. And that too is a danger, a temptation for office bearers. That we become short with the members of the congregation. That we answer them roughly or harshly. And that temptation is there, especially when the members of the church are speaking that way to us. This temptation is compounded when we're dealing with an unruly member, with the constant critic, with the impenitent sinner. The temptation is to respond in kind. But it's never permissible. No matter how sinful the people may be, no matter what their attitude may be, And that's clear from another Old Testament office bearer who spoke roughly to the people, Moses. And now if anyone has an excuse to speak roughly to the people, it's Moses because he was dealing with a truly hard-hearted and stiff-necked and rebellious people. But yet when he spoke harshly, when he called them a bunch of rebels, God Himself reproved him for that. Telling us that as office bearers, it does not matter how the people may treat us. We may never address them roughly or harshly. Now that's not the same thing as saying firmly. As office bearers, we do have to be firm. There's a calling to speak boldly, courageously, and with conviction to address sin as it needs to be addressed with the Word of God, but that's different than doing as Rehoboam did and speaking roughly. Instead of that, we are to speak lovingly. We're to follow the instruction of Proverbs 15.1 which says, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Someone comes to us with wrath and the right response is not to use grievous words, but a soft answer. This is the instruction we find in 2 Timothy 2.24-25. And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." The scenario is someone's ensnared in a particular sin. They're walking impenitently in that sin. And as office bearers, the calling is to teach, to instruct, to bring the Word of God to bear upon the situation and in the right manner Not striving, says 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, but be gentle. Patience. Patient in meekness, instructing those and then what follows. And we're going to do this because this is a part of what it means to be a servant. A servant speaks in the right manner, in a loving manner, towards those he is called to serve. And the motivation is because, is this not how Christ speaks to us? In His Word, in the preaching? Yes, there are times He's firm, but He instructs us with meekness. patience, gentleness, and knowing His gentleness towards us. We are to reflect that in our labors as office bearers. And that brings us to the third lesson that we learn from this history that follows closely on the heels of the second, namely the importance that as office bearers, we grant fair requests At the beginning of the first point, we evaluated this request of the people and we said, look, the wise counselors are going to tell Rehoboam, go ahead and answer this request, telling us there's some legitimacy to this. There's a fairness in this request that the people bring when they come saying, make our yoke lighter. And the word of these wise men to Rehoboam is the Word of God that comes to us as office bearers. if thou wilt be a servant unto this people and wilt serve them and answer them and speak good words to them. That is, the calling is to be responsive. To answer kindly. To grant requests. That is, when members of the church come to us with some petition, they make a request. As office bearers, evaluate it. But as we have to say, is there a point to be made here? And if there is, then we are to grant that request. And that has application, for example, to even when that request is saying you men erred in your work and there's a protest or an appeal that comes. As office bearers, we may never be dismissive and just say, well, this is a protest. This is just an angry member. We don't need to listen to this person. But we have to have the humility to say, well, is there a point here? And if there is a valid point, then we have to have the humility to say we were wrong in what we did. Because again, that's a part of being a servant to the people. not holding ourselves above them as though we could never do anything wrong, or that we're the only ones who know what's best, but being willing to listen to the people. Especially because we must remember that every member of the congregation comes with a kingly voice. It's not just the office bearers in the church who are the kings, the priests, and the prophets. As Christians, we are all partakers of Christ's anointing. Every one of us occupies the office of believer, and therefore, when the members come asking that some policy be adopted, that some change be made, or whatever it may be, we must recognize they are speaking with a kingly voice. Now, it may be that in the end, we hear them out and we decide, no, that's not the direction we want to go. And that's legitimate. But the point is when the people bring a fair request, we are to heed that request. Because is that not what our God does for us in Jesus Christ? The word answer in verse 7 is more often used in Scripture with reference to God answering us. We're the ones who bring our petitions, our supplications, our requests to the people, or to our God rather. And while He does not always give us what we ask for, He does give us everything that we need. He answers those prayers that are in harmony with His will. And as office bearers, out of thankfulness for the fact that God hears and answers our prayers for Christ's sake, we are to answer the people, to be responsive to them. So we are seeking to learn from the negative example of King Ray Bowman. We are taught that as office bearers, we must be servants unto the people. We are taught to speak lovingly rather than roughly. We're taught to grant fair requests that come to us. And fourth, we must learn to seek out and listen to wise counsel. Because remember the context here. V. 7 is the good, wise counsel of the older men to Rehoboam. And remember, these were men who stood before Solomon. That is, these men served as counselors to the wisest man alive at that time. Think about that. That means even Solomon as gifted as he was, as wise as he was, understood, I need others to help me. I need to surround myself not with a bunch of yes-men who are just going to tell me what I want to hear, but men who can give me good advice. Who can help me in ruling over this people so that Solomon applied what he himself taught. In Proverbs 22, verse 6, For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in multitude of counselors there is safety. Thus, for us as office bearers, we must never rely on our own judgment. We must not be guilty of thinking I'm the one who has all the answers, but we have to recognize the importance of a multitude of counselors. That is, we must seek out and listen to the good advice of others. That's a large part of the reason that our assemblies, including our deacons' meetings, our council, and our consistory are what we call deliberative assemblies. We do not show up to our meetings with our minds made up, ready to vote on whatever needs to be voted on. But we come to listen and to interact with the viewpoints of others to weigh the pros and the cons collectively as a group of office bears and then come to a decision. Once we've heard others speak to the matter, then there's safety. in a multitude of counselors. There's application also to seeking out and listening to other voices. Those who have gone before us. Those who have experience in different matters. And I have in view reading good Reformed literature. I have in view listening to whatever audio may be available to us addresses us as office bearers. We are to learn from others. Seeking out counsel and listening to it in that way as well. That's the calling. The fourfold calling that comes to us as office bearers this morning. So the focus this morning is first on Christ. Our King, who is the King we need over against the failure of Rehoboam. But then we recognize there's a word for the office bearers and that Rehoboam was an office bearer. But there is also instruction for the people. For just as the office bearers must learn from the negative example of Rehoboam, so the congregation must learn from the negative example of Jeroboam and the northern ten tribes. For they sinned in what they did. They rebelled. That's the language we find in v. 19. So, Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. They brought their request. And there was really more of like a demand. And when it was not heeded, they said, we're out of here then. We're done with you. If you're not going to meet our demands, We're going to have our own king, our own kingdom, and our own gods. They sinned. And their sin was first and foremost that they were really forsaking Christ. In the line of Christ, because of what they say in v. 16. After Rehoboam comes to them, we read, so when all of Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king saying, What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse to your tents." And I trust even the catechism students remember how serious this statement is. What portion have we with David? They're saying, what portion do we have with the son of David? The one who's been promised to come, who will come and establish an everlasting kingdom. They're saying, what portion have we with Christ? That's the seriousness of this rebellion and they're breaking off from the line of David. Which is to say the line of Christ. That first and foremost is their sin. And what makes us wrong. But along with that, there's the sin of rebellion. That is sin against the fifth commandment. In the fifth commandment when God says, honor your father and mother, we recognize from the whole of God's Word that applies to anyone and everyone who is in a position of authority over us. And Rehoboam was for the people their God-ordained authority. God is the one who put him there as king. And for the people of Israel to rebel, to say, we're out of here, was a sin against the fifth commandment. And as a congregation, we must not be guilty of that same thing. Instead, we are called to bear patiently with the men who have been placed over us. That's the language we find in the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 39, which explains to us the fifth commandment. Lord's Day 39, what does God require in the fifth commandment? That I show all honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother, and all in authority over me, and submit myself to their good instruction and correction with due obedience. And now notice this. and patiently bear with their weaknesses and infirmities, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand." Clearly implied is that the office bearers in the church do have weaknesses and infirmities. Because all 11 of us are sinners. All 11 of us have an old man of sin And every one of us has been affected in our minds and in our judgments on account of the fall. We are going to make mistakes. There's always room for improvement. We have weaknesses and infirmities. But the presence of those weaknesses and infirmities, even the presence of sin, is not an excuse to rebel. As foolish as Rehoboam was, it was not proper for the people to respond by saying, well, he's a foolish king, therefore we don't have to listen to him. It was still sinful. And that applies still today. So that even though there are these weaknesses, these infirmities among our office bearers as a congregation, we still have the calling to submit to them. To bear patiently with them. That means, at times, covering, passing over their faults, their transgressions. At times it means submitting ourselves to a decision that perhaps we do not necessarily like all that much. And even in those times where we might feel that I've been wronged by a decision that's been made, I'm aggrieved on account of that decision, and I'm going to protest that decision, the calling is still to maintain a submissive attitude throughout the entire process of protest and appeal. We are to bear patiently as a people. And to do so because Christ put these men there. That's the last part of the language in question and answer 104, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand. And that applies to office bearers. For you see, what took place this morning was so significant. These men did not thrust themselves into the office of elder and deacon. But roughly a month ago, there was an election The congregation as a whole chose these men as office bearers. And we trust that the vote was guided by the Spirit. And prior to that, there was even the weeks of approbation. Members of the congregation had an opportunity to say, such and such a man is not qualified for the office of elder or deacon. And no one brought any objections. And now this morning, questions were put to these men. Do you believe you are truly called of God to this office? Do you agree with what Scripture teaches us? Do you promise faithfully to discharge your office? And you heard all three of them say yes. And the significance of all this is that when that process is in place, in a true church of Jesus Christ, we recognize that Christ is the One governing that whole process, so that Christ is the One who put these men into office. Christ set them up over us as rulers. And therefore, we bear patiently with them as a part of my submission and obedience to Christ my King. Because He is worthy. Even if as a people we would ever come to the conclusion such and such an office bearer is not worthy of my obedience, of my submission, you cannot come to that same conclusion about your King, Jesus Christ. The One who came not to be served, but to serve by paying the debt that we owe, by fulfilling all righteousness for us. And therefore, as a people, let us bear patiently with our office bearers as a part of our love for our King, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. Apply this Word unto our hearts. Cause it to bear fruit in our lives. We pray all this for Christ's sake. Amen.