Please open up your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. Apparently everyone heard that we were going to be talking about church government, and that's such an exciting subject, that's why... Nobody came today. But yes, because Mr. Mike George has been nominated to be a deacon, the session thought it wise, and by the session I mean the elders of the church, Pastor Mike and Mr. Jimmy. I thought it was a good idea to spend a couple of weeks covering the subject of church government and what elders do and what deacons do and what qualifications there are for those offices. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to take at least three weeks. My plan is to do three weeks. This week on biblical eldership, next week on the biblical diaconate, and then the third week on biblical qualifications for those offices. So, and I will tell you also, Because of the nature of what we're covering, this is not going to be a detailed exposition of 1 Peter 5, one through four. I'm trying to cover a lot of ground this morning, so bear with me, and you may need to turn to some passages, and if not, just write the passages down, okay? All right, so here are the word of the Lord from 1 Peter 5, beginning in verse one. The elders who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." Now, I suspect that if you took most Christians and said, hey, we're going to get together, we're going to get our chairs together in the living room, and we're going to talk about church government. And then if you took another group of Christians, or let me put it this way, if you gave them another option and said, we're going to get together in my living room and watch paint dry, most Christians would probably rather watch paint dry than talk about church government. But I want to remind you of a scripture that I know you all know, everyone in this room knows, and that's 2 Timothy 3.16, and it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is what? Say it if you know it. Profitable. That's right. So everything that the Bible speaks about is from God, and everything that the Bible speaks about is in some way spiritually profitable for you. So to ignore this subject would be to miss out on spiritual benefit that Christ has for you. But there's another reason why. If you've got your Bible open to 1 Peter, look a few verses back up in chapter 4 at verse 17, And Peter says, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Now, one of the things that, by the way, let me say this, it's not just by coincidence that right after talking about the judgment that comes on the house of God, he starts talking about the elders of the church. Because when God brings judgment, He usually starts with the church, and when He starts with the church, He's going to start with the leadership of the church, which is the elders, or who are the elders. And one of the responsibilities that every member of the congregation has is to help maintain the purity of the church, and to hold the leadership accountable. So one reason that this is important to you is you're going to receive some spiritual benefit from this, because it's God's Word, it's addressed in God's Word, but also you have a responsibility, every person in the congregation has a responsibility to help maintain the purity of the church, and to be able to do that effectively, you need to understand biblical church government. Now I have three goals this morning. One is that you would see something of the importance of church government. I want you to hear what we're talking about, and by the end of this today, you realize, you know, this is not just some cursory issue. This really is an important issue. Secondly, I want you to understand it. I want you to be able to know that the way that Christ's church is governed is something of what we would call by divine right. It's something that the Bible teaches is supposed to be done a certain way, and we don't just have the liberty to make it up on our own. So I want you to see its importance. I want you to understand it. And then also, I want you, as I've already mentioned, to be able to participate in it. You need to be able to know how to hold your leaders accountable. So let's begin looking at a few observations in 1 Peter 5, and of course we're going to be in a couple places this morning. But the first thing I want to point out about the government of the church is the head of the church, who is Christ. In verse 4, Peter mentions this great blessing that's going to come to the elders of the church, but this happens when Christ returns, and he calls Christ the chief shepherd, or the one who is over all of the other shepherds, or pastors, as we commonly call them. Pastor, pasture, both descending from the same idea there, shepherding, that's what a pastor is, is a shepherd. But Christ is the chief shepherd. Christ is the one who is the head of the church. Colossians 118 says, and he is referring to Christ and he is the head of the body, the church. The same thing is mentioned in Ephesians 5.23, for the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church. The church has only one authority. When you think leadership in the church and authority in the church, the first thing that you think is the elders, you have an unbiblical view of church government. Because the first thing that you should think when you think of authority in the church is that Christ is the head of the church. There is only one ultimate authority. And Christ has spoken authoritatively in His Word. Therefore, the final authority on all matters relating to the doctrine of the church, the purity of the church, that the final authority on every single issue is Christ as He has spoken in His word, because the scriptures are the law of the king and head of the church. So Christ is the head of the church. But let's talk about the role of the elders. There are a couple of words that we're going to look at here, and we're going to talk about Basically three, one is elders, one is pastors or shepherds, and also overseers or bishops. We're gonna talk about these words. So the first one is elders, the elders who are among you. I exhort in verse one, I who am a fellow elder. This Greek word for elder here is presbyteros. That sound familiar, presbyteros? You think of any English word we might get from presbyteros? Presbyterian. If you think Presbyterian, that we get Presbyterian from the word presbyteros, you would be mistaken. That's not where we get the word Presbyterian. It's similar, but it's not the same word. I want you to turn very quickly to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. Now as you're turning there, let me say this. in the New Testament. I'm going to show you this. The church is not governed by presbyters or by elders. It's governed by presbyteries or a board of elders, which means that the individual elders of the church do not govern in an individual aspect, that they govern as they rule together and make decisions for the church. So Mr. Jimmy does not make decisions for the church by himself. Pastor Mike does not make decisions by himself for the church. that as they govern together, they govern as a Presbytery. Now, 1st Timothy 4 in verse 14. It says, Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. And if you have a King James, you see the word Presbytery there. Now, this is a little bit different word. It's not the word Presbyteros. It's the word Presbyterion, from which we get our word Presbyterian. to demonstrate that the church is governed, again, not just by individual elders, but by elders as they govern together. Now, we commonly call, in our circles, as the elders govern together of an individual congregation, the session. Okay, that's what we mean by the baby presbytery in each individual congregation. We typically refer to that as a session, which just simply means the elders as they're seated in their ruling capacity, as they govern together, as they make biblical decisions for the church. And the word elder or presbyteros simply denotes maturity in the faith. It does in some cases refer to those that are the older men in a society, but within the context of the church, the word ought to bring up maturity in the faith. So this is what he means by elders, this office in the church. So back in 1 Peter 5, there's another word that I want to point out in verse 2. And that's the word overseer. He says, shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers. And this is the Greek word episkopos, from which we get the word episcopalian, or episcopal. And that word is sometimes translated bishop. And I think overseer is probably the best translation because that's literally what the word means, to oversee something. And this word denotes the authority or looking over the shoulder, you might say. Overseeing something. Now, you may have grown up in a tradition, I know some of you in this room have, where there is a hierarchy within the leadership of the church, and you might think, well, there are elders, and then there are bishops, and then there are something else, as if bishops were higher than the elders of the church, or if you serve as a good elder, one day maybe you'll make it to be a bishop, get promoted one day, or something like that. But I want you to notice that in 1 Peter 5, he's using those two terms interchangeably. that bishops are not higher than elders and elders are not higher than bishops. They're the same office. They're two different words that are used interchangeably to refer to the same office. Like we might say the president and the commander in chief, we're using two different terms to refer to the same office. Now, when the word elder is used, It denotes spiritual maturity. And when the word bishop or overseer or episkopos is used, it denotes the oversight or the authority that elders have within the church. I'm going to read you one passage. Don't need to turn there if you don't want, but you can write down Titus chapter 1. And I want to show you another place where these are used interchangeably. Titus 1 verse 5. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. He's talking about elders. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination. And then he says, for a bishop must be blameless. So in Titus 1 verses 5 through 7, he's using them interchangeably. He's saying, if you're going to be an elder, you have to meet these qualifications because a bishop must be da-da-da-da-da. He must be blameless. And so in Titus 1, we see the same thing that we see in 1 Peter chapter 5, which is that these two terms are used interchangeably for the same office. I can't stress that enough. that all of the elders in the church, whether you want to call them elders or whether you want to call them overseers, the term is used interchangeably, and they have the same authority in the church. Now, one more verse I do want to read you is 1 Timothy 5 and verse 17. Now listen to this. In 1 Timothy 5, 17, Paul says, Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." Now note here that he's saying all elders who rule well are to be counted worthy of double honor if they hold the office and if they execute the duties of the office biblically, then they're to be counted worthy of double honor. But notice also that not all elders have the same function. They all have the same authority. Every one of them has one vote on the session, but not all of them have the same function. There are some elders who are particularly called to the labor of word and doctrine, who make their living by preaching, teaching, evangelizing, and the church. So all of them have the same authority. All the elders in the Church of Christ in the New Testament have the same authority, but they do not all have the same function. Some of them have the labor of word and doctrine, where that is their primary calling in life. Now, one more word, we've talked about elders or presbyteros, we've talked about overseers or episkopos, and then there's one more word, and that is shepherd, or as we've already said, pastor. He says in verse two, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, and then of course, In verse four, we mentioned how Christ is called the chief shepherd. And so Christ has his shepherds or his pastors under him. Now we tend to refer to those who have the primary work of word and doctrine as pastors, although it used to be the case that they were referred to as ministers, the ones who administer from the pulpit the word of God and lead in worship and administer the sacraments. Nowadays, we tend to call the minister, pastors, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I do think it's important to note that all of the elders have the work of shepherding the flock of God. It is not just the minister or the one who leads in worship that has that role and responsibility. preaching and teaching. So we've got three different words here, pastor or shepherd, we usually use the word pastor, pastor, elder, and overseer, all to refer to the same office. Now I want you to go to Acts chapter 14, and we're gonna spend a little bit of time here, a little bit of time in Acts, and we're gonna do some flipping because I want you to see what's going on here with the elders. The first thing I want you to see is Acts chapter 14, and we're going to start in verse 23. And I want you to see that Paul and Barnabas have been tasked with the mission of going to some of the churches where the gospel has gone to places, but they do not yet fully have a good biblical church government or organization. They're not really organized yet. And so Paul and Barnabas had the task to go and show these Christians how to be a more faithful church and how to be organized according to the Word of God. So look what it says in chapter 14 and verse 23, Acts 14, 23. So, when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Now, from our English translation, what it's going to sound like is that Paul and Bartas... Barnabas went around choosing who was going to be an elder and then deciding that for each church. But this Greek word for appointed here is a word that means to elect by show of hands. It literally means to stretch out the hand. And it was a word used in elections by show of hands. So Paul and Barnabas were tasked with the instructions of helping churches become more biblical, and how did they do that? They went around to each church and said, you need to elect, by show of hands, your officers. Well, that's what the word strictly means. I guess there could be some debate as to whether or not you have to stretch out the hand. But the point is that these officers, or these elders, were chosen by election of each individual congregation. So, other forms of church government, will have a bishop, which we've already discussed this, but they'll have a bishop that appoints certain people to go in certain places. But that's not what the New Testament teaches. The New Testament teaches that each congregation elects its own officers. Now something else I want to point out is the plurality that is mentioned here. that these people elected elders, plural, in every church, singular, so that each New Testament church had a plurality of elders. There was never, there is, by the way, I don't think, I may be wrong on this, I don't think there's a single time with reference to the church where elder is used in the singular in the New Testament. If nothing else, let me put it this way. The vast majority of the times when it is used, it's used in the plural. The point being that they govern together and that each individual church has a board of elders or a presbytery or as we commonly call a session. Now, what happens though if these elected officers, these officials, can't settle a dispute in the congregation. What happens if we've got a doctrinal situation where Pastor Mike and Mr. Jimmy just can't square on it? Well, you might think, well, what do we have? Well, you have the right of appeal, which means that you can appeal to a broader court, not just the court that we have in our individual church. Now, let me pause there. Let me hit the pause button and say, we tend to use the word church either meaning everyone in the individual congregation, the whole congregation collectively. However, in the New Testament and throughout the first century, the word church, or ekklesia is the Greek word, the word church was used to refer to the elders in a judicial assembly. You actually see this in Acts chapter 19. The word assembly is used there I think two or three times with this riot that happens at Ephesus. And this secular court is called a church, the English word that's translated as assembly. But it uses the word church to refer to this judicial assembly that is gathered. So what you have, a lot of times in the New Testament when you read the word church, you might be thinking everyone in a particular congregation. However, sometimes when it's used, it's referring to the elders as they sit to make a judicial, I know this is legal language, but to make a determination on something, to try and say, well, what does the Bible say about this controversy? What does the Bible say about this doctrine or this practice? But what happens when there's an issue that we can't solve at the local level? Well, then you have what some people call it higher courts. I think it's a little more biblical to say a broader court. And so the situation will be appealed to by all the elders in a particular area or in a particular region. And that's exactly what you have in Acts chapter 15. So in chapter 14, you have Paul and Barnabas going around showing each church how to elect their own officers. And then there's a doctrinal dispute which has to do with salvation. Does someone have to be circumcised to be a Christian? Spoiler alert, the answer is no. But they couldn't settle this at the local level, so they appealed to a broader court, and Acts 15 is what is commonly called the Jerusalem Council. And in verses 1-5, we're not going to read all of Acts 15, I'm just going to give you an overview and note some of the highlights. This dispute arises, and they don't settle it locally, so they appeal to the broader court. So look at verse 6 of Acts 15. Acts chapter 15 and verse 6, now it says, now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. Let me stop right there. Apostles had authority from the Lord Jesus Christ. They had the authority of Christ in the church. What they could have done was come up with an apostolic determination, as they did with many disputes, and simply write a letter, and that would have been authoritative, because they spoke for Christ. However, that's not what they did. To show the church how she is supposed to be governed, they had this council and this broader court so that we would know how the church is supposed to handle certain disputes that we can't handle at the local level. And that is one reason, by the way, Peter calls himself a fellow elder in 1 Peter 5, because the functional elders of the church, the apostles, functioned as elders in the church. Now, another thing I want to point out in verse 6, is that the congregation took no part in the deliberation or the adjudication of the matter. So they've got this dispute where, you know, who can, do you have to be circumcised to be saved? And the apostles and elders, basically the functional elders of the church, get together. The apostles are functioning as elders at this council to deliberate this matter. And the whole congregation was there Many of the people of the church were there to witness it, but the people of the church, the individual members of the congregation did not have the privilege of what we might call deliberation and adjudication or determining the matter. Look at verse 22 of Acts chapter 15. then it pleased the apostles and the elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who was also named Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, and so on and so forth. So the point that I want to make is that the whole church was permitted to witness the proceedings, but the whole church was not permitted to participate in the deliberation, or let's just call it what we call it, the arguing. The whole church didn't have that privilege, and the whole church did not have the privilege of participating in the final decision. Now, a couple of things that I want to point out here. If those that believe in a hierarchical government, namely Episcopalians and Roman Catholics, will point to the fact that Peter spoke first. That's their argument. The Roman Catholic argument is Peter spoke first. Well, first of all, that's not true. If you look at verse 7 of Acts chapter 15, it says, And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, So what happened? Did Peter speak first? No, that's not even true. There had already been some form of argumentation and deliberation and debate before Peter even speaks. And besides that, James is the one who speaks last. So there's nothing in the text to indicate that James or that Peter's words were more authoritative than any of the other elders as they were functioning at this council. Now that is big news because that means, number one, that Peter is not the head of the church, Christ is, and that Peter did not have more authority than any of the other apostles or at the council Because he's functioning as a fellow elder, they all had kind of the same say of what goes on at this council. So that knocks out the idea of a hierarchical, or what is commonly called an Episcopal government, where there are gradations or hierarchy within the leadership of the church. But also, it knocks out congregational government. Which means that not every person who is a member of the church participates in all the controversies or decisions of the church. Now the members of the congregation do elect their officers, but they elect their representatives, who are the elders or the bishops or the pastors, whatever you want to call them, to be able to participate in this. So, what we have here is a biblical form of government, what we might think of as a representative form of government, where the congregations elect their own representatives, the elders, and the elders represent them to make biblical decisions in the church and are to lead and guide the church biblically. Now, a couple of conclusions you can draw from the Jerusalem Council. I'm going to give you four, there are many, but I'm just going to give you four. Number one, members of the church have the right of appeal. This means that if there is a doctrinal dispute or an ethical dispute that cannot be settled within an individual congregation, there is a broader court. If you don't think that Pastor Mike and Mr. Jimmy are ruling biblically or giving you a fair shake or something like that, or if they have led the church in an unbiblical direction, you have the right to appeal to Presbytery, which we go to once a year, which is what you see here with a doctrinal issue in Acts chapter 15. So members of the church have the right of appeal. Secondly, the elders of the church have the responsibility of deliberating and adjudicating matters within the church. Now let me explain what I mean here. Individual members of the congregation should not be participating in deliberation at session meetings. That means if you come to the session meeting and witness the session meeting, the matters should be deliberated or, as we said, argued. The elders should argue at that point that should not be the members of the congregation giving input. That should take place beforehand. It doesn't mean, you know, you're put under a gag order or you shouldn't say anything. What that means is what members of the congregation, if they have concerns about something, should tell the elders of the church. and should say, hey, I think we should do this, or I don't think we should be doing this, or, you know, what about this thing that Ray was saying? Is this biblical? You know, and you would present it to the elders, and that would be deliberated on and decided on in a session meeting. It is not fitting or biblical for members of the congregation to deliberate or argue during the session meetings. So the elders of the church have the responsibility of deliberating and adjudicating matters. Thirdly, Now this is a big one here. The decision was binding upon all of the churches. In Acts chapter 15, what you see is they draw up what they determined and it was binding upon all the churches. Now this throws out autonomous, independent churches that don't see themselves as governed by the Presbytery because this decision was binding on all of the churches, which means that the New Testament church had a connectedness. They were connected by a common confession and a common form of government. That's what you see in Acts chapter 15 and really the rest of the New Testament. And fourthly, The Scriptures are the final authority on matters of faith and practice. Now, this is a big one, because I want you to see that it wasn't just that the elders just came up with something, that they just said, hey, I think this is a good idea and a good way to handle this. James appeals to the Scriptures, verse 15 of Acts 15. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written, and then he proceeds to quote the Scriptures. Now why do I point this out? I point this out to show you that the elders' authority or function in the church is not legislative. And by that I mean they don't come up with laws or rules or doctrines. The elders' authority is strictly and only ministerial, which means they can only make decisions based on the Word of God. So Pastor Mike, Mr. Jimmy, the elders of the church cannot just say, hey, I think we should do this, or this is a good idea, or you know, I feel like Jesus means this to me. Could you imagine our elders saying something like that? Here's the thing, don't laugh, it could happen. Okay? It could happen. And that is why, well, what happens when they rule? What happens if it goes to a broader court, as has happened in church history, and they rule out of accordance with the Scriptures? Well, you have to keep in mind the very first thing that we said, which is that Christ is the head of the church. And so when the elders of the church, and even a broader court, the Presbytery level, rules out of accord with the scriptures, then it is the duty of every member of Christ's church to disregard the elders and not Christ. So if the session or if Presbytery says, hey, this is the decision we've come up with, then it is the members of the congregation's responsibility to disregard that, but never to disregard Christ. And so that's why you have all sorts of faithful people being persecuted sometimes in the church. Let me put it this way. That's one reason why sometimes, even within the church, people are persecuted because they choose to disregard the decision of a corrupt church rather than the never-corrupt head of the church, which is Christ. Now, that is the essential role or office of elders in the church. So, I'm just going to talk about the character of the church, the elders, but I'll talk about that more in a couple of weeks when we talk about the qualifications. So let me skip to this and say, well, what does this have to do with you? Well, let me tell you three things that you should be doing. So we've talked about the church being governed by elders or another synonym, pastors or overseers. and they rule together to make biblical decisions, not just what they think is right or they think is best, but what does the Bible say, and that they do that together, and that some of those elders don't have a distinction in authority, but in function, and that they are to labor in the word and doctrine. What does this have to do with you? Well, let me tell you three things. The first is that you should commit yourself to faithful membership in Christ's church. I know that we have several people who have been visiting over the last few months that are getting their feet wet and trying to decide if they're going to join, and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking to those people. But what I am saying is not just to be a member, I'm saying to commit yourself to faithful membership to Christ's church, which means that if you have joined the church of Christ, and if you have taken an oath or a vow to be a member of this church, then you need to take seriously your oaths and vows to this church, to pray for the peace of the church, to pray for the purity of the church, to participate faithfully in the worship of the church. All of these things, all of the vows that you've committed, you must be faithful to do that as a church member. But secondly, pray for the preaching of God's word. I know that we didn't talk about this very much this morning, but one of the primary ways that sheep are fed is by the, or the primary way that the sheep are fed is not necessarily by what happens in session meetings, but by what happens from the pulpit as the sheep are fed each and every Sunday. And if you want this church to be healthy, and if you want this church to grow biblically and faithfully in the right ways, then you need to be praying for the preaching of God's word to come, not just in word, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. And I would just, this, I'm gonna, point of privilege, I'm gonna be really selfish here for a few minutes. I would really appreciate it if you would commit to every single day spending a few minutes just in prayer just for this. just praying for the preaching of God's Word. Yes, the worship, yes, the growth of the church, yes, our evangelistic outreach and our discipleship and all those things, but specifically, preaching. Because it is through preaching that Christ, that is the primary way that he feeds his sheep, is through the preaching of the Word of God. So faithful membership, pray for the preaching, but also, thirdly, pray for the elders of the church. Pray for their wisdom in how they apply the word of God and make decisions for the church, but also pray for their sanctification. As difficult as it is for you to overcome temptation, and as much as Satan would seek to overthrow your soul and make you a poor example in the church, he wants to do that for the leadership of the church, even more so than he wants to do it for you. Let me tell you how you know that, besides that the Bible teaches it. If somebody commits some sort of gross sin, sexual sin, let's just use that as an example, in the church, it's probably not gonna make the news, unless there's someone very important. If somebody in the church does that, it's not gonna make the news. But if a pastor is caught in some sort of scandal like that, it is almost definitely going to make the news. Why is that? because Satan is after the leadership of the church because it bleeds down. And it affects the whole way that the world views Christ and the way that the world views the church. Now, I said that to say, don't just pray for the preaching. I mean, pray for the preaching, but pray for the wisdom and the sanctification of the elders that they would be faithful to the Lord and overcome temptation and grow in Christ. Amen? Amen, let's pray. Lord, you love your church. You love your people. And we are grateful that we get to participate in the life of the church. And we ask that you would move us to repentance where we have been unfaithful. Move us to repentance where we have not been godly church members, where we have failed to pray for our leaders. We have failed to pray for the Spirit's work in the preaching of His word. And Lord, may we be set apart as a bride adorned for Christ, that when He returns, when the chief shepherd appears, that the elders of your church will receive the unfading crown of glory. In Christ's name, amen.