Well, if you would, if you have your own copy of God's Word, or with one of the Bibles in front of you, if you would turn with me back to 1 Peter 5. Right there near the end of our Bibles, this letter from Jesus' apostle Peter, which he wrote to Christians just like you and me. And also in verse five, he addresses a group of elders as a fellow elder himself of the church of Jesus Christ. We've been considering, we considered this passage last week. We're gonna consider it again this week. And in the context of this series that we've been doing on the church, what the church is, what it means to be a part of the church. The last week we considered what it means to be an elder of the church, what that looks like. We're going to pick up that conversation this morning from this same passage. So if you would, look with me in 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm going to read these first five verses for us again. This is the word of the Lord. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we have just read your holy word, We pray that we would be attentive to it and diligent in our listening to it. We are not passive listeners of a sermon, but we're active hearers of your word as you speak to us through your spirit. So please, would you do that work in our hearts this morning for your glory and for our good, and we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, last week we considered the office and ministry of the elder and the qualifications for the elder. And we saw that in these three words that show up in this passage, elder, shepherd, and overseer, exercising oversight. All three of those words describe what the elder's responsibility is. And we also saw how all of those things ultimately point to Christ, that he alone is worthy, he alone is above reproach, he alone is our elder brother, he is the shepherd and overseer of our souls. And so we need him more than anything else, we owe him all the glory and honor above any earthly person, earthly position, any elder among us, he alone is worthy. But there is something that goes along with our understanding of the office of elder. And we do know that by virtue of being and holding the office of elder, being under shepherds to the chief shepherd, there is a certain level of authority, there's a certain level of honor and respect that comes along with that. Elders are given authority and power in the church as overseers to govern the church and to care for her people. And this is a noble calling, this is a very high calling. It's worthy of respect, it's worthy of honor. But the question that comes up then as we think about this is how much authority does the church have in our lives? How much authority does the elder have in our lives? What's the power of the church government? Is there any limit to it? We know that there is, to some extent, there is some authority in this office. In verse five, we saw here how those who are younger are to be subject to their elders. Now this is true, generally speaking, that those who are younger should show deference and respect to those who are older. But also within the context of the church, those who have been called, elected as elders are to be shown respect. We've also looked at passages like Hebrews 13, 17, which says obey your leaders and submit to them. Or 1 Thessalonians, we consider that passage, chapter five. Let me read it for us again, verse 12 and 13. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and who are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Christ for the peace and purity of the church and for the good of all her members. That's our goal this morning. And so we're going to consider the authority and power in the church. We're going to do so under three different headings. We're going to look at the source of power, and then the scope of that power, and then third, the exercise of that power, the So the source, where that power comes from, the scope, which is the extent or limits of that power and authority, and then finally the exercise, how that is worked out in the life of the church. So let's look at this first point together, the source of the church's power. So we see that the church has some level of authority in our lives, that is true. The elders of the church have some, they're given authority and power to serve the church in this way. We're called to exercise government, exercise oversight over the church. And we see this in many different ways. It's the elders of the church who welcome new members into the church, who permit those to come to the Lord's table, who administer the sacraments. It's to the elders who at times must exercise church discipline and must do that necessary but sometimes difficult work. But where is the source of this power? Does the elder, does he have any of that power innate in and of himself? Does it flow out of him? Does he do it from his own authority? Or does it flow from someone else? See, it must be that second option. The source of the church's power must always be and always is from Christ and from him alone. He is the chief shepherd. And in calling certain men to be under shepherds, he does not cede and he does not give to them and relinquish any of the power that he himself keeps always. He does not cease to be the shepherd and overseer of his people, but Christ alone is head of the church. This is so crucial. Christ alone is head of the church. All authority that we have as elders, as a pastor, that the church has as the government, it is a representative authority. It is not innate, it does not come or spring up from our own being or from our own power. But the only source of power is Christ and him alone. So Christ is alone, he is head of the church. So what are the implications of this point? That means that there is no man, there is no person on earth, nowhere who is head of the church in place of Christ. It doesn't matter what title he's given. It doesn't matter if he considers himself to be the pope and is given the title of the vicar of Christ on earth. It also doesn't matter if he's the self-appointed apostle or spirit leader of the one true church down the street. It doesn't matter. No one, no mere man is head of the church. No one assumes the power in himself that Christ alone has. and to try and do so is to seek something that Christ has not permitted, is something that he does not give. He has called elders and shepherds to watch over the flock as those under authority, those who are accountable to Christ. And so we sometimes use the language of vesting, that authority is vested to us or conferred or entrusted to them. So Christ vests in capable men the office of elder to lead his church. But that authority is always vested. It is always a representative authority. A great example of this is earlier in our service when we do the confession of sin. We have this time of the reading of the law and we hear God's law, its requirements for us. We see how we've fallen short. We know that we're sinners in need of salvation, in need of grace and forgiveness of sins. But when we, after we read that law and confess our sins and we come to the assurance of God's mercy, your elders, myself, we do not forgive your sins. We have no power in and of ourselves as elders to forgive your sins. or to remove your sins from you. Only God, only Christ has the power to forgive sins. The authority that I do have and that we do have as elders and ministers of the gospel is to declare to you what is true. And what is true is that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just. He is powerful. He is able to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And we can declare that to you authoritatively and you ought to believe us You ought to believe us because we are declaring it on behalf of God that it is true that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord. But do you see the difference? I wish I had the power to forgive sins. What a wonderful power that would be, and we could, I could do that work or try to accomplish that for your lives, but I do not have that power, we do not have that power. Christ alone is able to forgive sins. So if you need sins forgiven, then go to Christ. Look to Him, trust in Him. But we, as elders, we simply declare unto you what is true. And that leads us right into the next point about the power of the elder. We have seen that there is real authority. It's vested in the elder. But the source of that power is always in Christ alone. So we understand the source of this power and its authority. Now we can consider the scope or the limits of this power. We've already considered it a little bit. What's the scope, what's the limit of this power and authority that we have? Okay, so we're already in the midst of one of the dumbest presidential campaigns in history. We're already in the 2024 presidential cycle. I hope you're enjoying it so far. One of the talking points that always comes up all the time so often revolves around the Supreme Court and how the Supreme Court is said to be legislating from the bench. All right, the Supreme Court is legislating from the bench. Now, how much do they actually make laws as opposed to interpreting and implying them, and how much is it just that maybe we don't agree with whatever they say, and that's why we say they're legislating from the bench. But do you understand the concern behind that? That phrase should make some sense to us. In this system of government that we have in our country, it's the legislature Those are the ones who legislate. Those are the ones who ought to make laws. And the courts, the Supreme Court, is to interpret those laws and to apply them. Now that exact nature of those separation of powers, to the extent to which they actually work, that's up for debate. But the point behind that I think we can all agree that there's a scope, there's a limit or the extent of the power of the judicial branch, and that is to, not to make laws, but to interpret, to apply. It has no power to legislate. And maybe you see where I'm going with this. This is the scope and the power of the church. This is the limit of our authority. We have no power to legislate. We simply declare what the Word of God says. And so we use these two words to talk about that. Kids, these are the two words, so if you take anything from the sermon, Jacob, I'll ask you after if you remember these two words, okay? These two words, one's five syllables, but you can learn it. Ministerial and declarative. Those are the two words, ministerial and declarative. You got it? Yeah, write it down. These two words summarize the scope or the limit of the church's authority and the power. That's it. It's not a legislature. We do not make laws. There is only one lawgiver for the church, and that is Christ. And where do we know his law? Where do we receive his law? is from his word. He alone determines the laws and the rules for living in his kingdom as king of his church and we his kingdom people. So we have no power to do this. Only Christ through his spirit who inspires his word, that is the holy standard by which we live. We have Holy Scripture, that is our only rule for faith in life. We cannot add to it, neither can we take away from it. So the scope of the power then, the limit of the power that's given and vested to the elder, it is ministerial and declarative. That is to say that we can declare what God's word is and what it says to you, And then we can minister God's word and minister his good gifts, the forgiveness of sins, the gospel truth, the sacraments, we can minister those things to you. And that's it. We minister and we declare. We do not legislate. We do not make laws. That's why we refer to the, by the way, we refer to the group of elders as a session. And we refer to the groups of elders at all the different levels in the church as courts. Well, why is that? It's not because we want to conjure up any images of us being very stuffy and banging gavels and being really stern and mean-spirited. That's not what we're trying to do. That's not what we're trying to convey. But we're trying to keep this wonderful biblical distinction in mind. that we are simply those who have received God's Word. And our job is to not add to it. Our job is not to take away from it. Our job is to interpret it, to declare it to you, to apply it and minister it to you in your lives. And that's it. Unfortunately, Many of us, we have firsthand experience or we know of stories where the scope of this power, people have gone beyond. Pastors and elders, churches, they've gone beyond to this level of authority. They've tried to legislate from the bench, as it were. The biblical example of this is all the laws and the commandments of the Pharisees. And Mark chapter seven's a striking example. Let me read a few verses from Mark chapter seven. It says, and the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Do you hear that? But they eat with defiled hands. And Jesus answered and said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. Do you see what was happening there? The commandments of men that had no bearing on God's word had become doctrines of the church. The only commandments that bear any weight upon the consciences of God's people. The only commandments that bear any weight in your life are God's commandments in his word. Not the commandments of any pastor or group of elders or any church, no matter how famous, no matter how well known, no matter how successful or powerful in the world's eyes, they have no authority over you except when they are declaring to you what God has said to you in his word. God and God alone is Lord of the conscience. That is so important for us to know. And we must only follow his commands. Now that does not mean that tradition in and of itself is bad or wrong. That does not mean that we abandon all of that. But tradition is only good insofar as it helps us to obey God's commands. It was not the fault of the office of elder, but that their teachings had usurped their proper place and have been put above scripture. They were not declaring God's word to the people, but they had replaced God's word with their own, and were declaring that to them. The historical examples of this are many. We see that, saw this in the medieval church with the system of indulgences and penance, which are nowhere found in scripture, but were foisted onto the people by an abuse of the power of the church. Another example during that time was the requirement of celibacy. for clergy. This was an abuse of scripture that would bound the consciences of these men and women who are free in the Lord to marry. And yet the church restricted and would not permit them what God had permitted them in his word. There are so many countless examples of that we could think of today where pastors, unfortunately, we can bind the consciences of our people. even unintentionally at times, requiring them, of them, something that Christ nowhere requires of them. We can be like the Pharisees where we have the commandments of men and put that on the people. Everything from a certain way of dressing to a certain way of schooling your kids to a certain amount of giving that's required or having to show up five days a week to church and twice on Sundays, whatever it might be. We cannot bind the consciences of our people beyond that which Christ has commanded in his word. I came across this helpful quote that I think illustrates this second point well. It's from an introduction to a new resource book for family worship. It's called The Family Worship Bible Guide. It's an excellent resource. Joel Beeky, he's the man when it comes to family worship. So this is a great resource. And in the introduction, he was offering some helpful advice to parents as they instruct their children and as they set godly limits for them, especially as your kids grow up and they become teenagers. And if they're anything like I was when I was a teenager, it was always fun to try and push back against those limits that are set by our parents. But we know that We must set limits for our children, and we must let Scripture guide us in that, and at times we must godly and lovingly discipline our children, always doing this wisely in accordance with Scripture. So he instructs parents to tell their children this. This is the quote. He says that we should tell our children that we will allow you every privilege an open Bible will allow us to give you. If we say no to you, you must know that flows out of our love. So we will allow you every privilege an open Bible will allow you, but if we say no to you, you must know that flows out of our love. Do you hear and do you see the scope of the power that's in that quote? See Christian, you are free actually. You are free to every privilege. that an open Bible, reading God's word, that God gives you. And far be it from us, from any pastor, any elder, any church, to bind your conscience to follow unbiblical commands. Yet at the same time, your elders do have the authority, as loving parents toward children, to declare unto you what the word teaches, And they must do so from a heart of love, at times offering admonishment or rebuke or discipline as it comes from God's word, for your good, ministering to your needs. That's the biblical tension we see here in this office. And that's why it's so important that we all must be people of the word. We all must be students of scripture so that you can test our words and test my words to see if they truly do declare unto you what scripture declares and teaches to you. And that's also why it's so important that this is never just one person or one man exercising this power, but rather there must always be a plurality. It must always be the work of many, not the work of one or even of a few. And that leads us right to the last point, and that is the exercise of power. So we've seen the source of power, that Christ alone is head of the church. That title cannot be appropriated or taken by anyone else. We've seen the scope of power, that though elders have this true authority, it is only in ever ministerial and declarative. That's the limit. That's the extent to which they can exercise this power. They can declare what God's word says. They can minister it to your needs. They cannot add to it nor take away from it. And finally then we can consider how they do the work of exercising this power. How do the elders go about ministering to the needs of God's people? How do they go about declaring God's word to them? And we do this in two ways. At times, this power is exercised individually, but at many times, it's done, and most often, it's done as a group, jointly, together, a plurality. So some things are done individually, some are done jointly. Preaching is one of those examples of things that are done individually. One of my favorite shows to watch growing up, and I still like watching reruns, was the Whose Line Is It Anyway? improv show, it's so funny. One of the best games that they played was the three-headed Broadway star, where they had three people come up and they each had to sing a song, each saying one word at a time. Can you imagine trying to preach a sermon that way? Don't imagine it too much. But to have Clint, Cody and myself all come up and try to preach a sermon, obviously that wouldn't work, that doesn't make sense. There are things that we do individually. Preaching. counseling at times, praying for you all, meeting with the sick, administering the sacrament, all those things we can do individually. But even when we do these things individually, we are never doing them separately, or we're never doing them from our own authority, but we're always accountable to one another. So among our session, Clint, Cody, Craig, myself, none is greater, none is before the other. And that's true of every teaching elder, every ruling elder in our denomination, in the PCA. We are all subject to our brothers in the Lord. And I realize I've not even yet touched on that distinction that we make between teaching and ruling elders in our church and in the PCA. There's so much that we could say about that. I'd love to talk to anybody who has questions about why we make that distinction and maybe is confused about that. But we make this distinction because we understand that the Office of Elder and how the Office of Elder exercises this power. Both teaching and ruling elders hold the same office of elder but are distinguished into two orders or two classes. The teaching elder is given the primary responsibility for preaching, for teaching, for administering the sacrament. But he has no ultimate authority in the church. I have no greater authority than any of the ruling elders in the church. I'm one among many. All the elders of the church are given the work of governing and shepherding and teaching and exercising oversight, protecting, ministering the flock. This is the biblical model for church leadership. It is never one person making all the decisions. It's always a group of elders who themselves are elected by the congregation. who are nominated, elected, and then installed by the congregation, by the will of the congregation. They're the ones who are given the responsibility of exercising this power together for the glory of God and for the good of His people, whom He loves so much. And so as we wrap up here this morning, we need to remember these different things. That the elder has no authority that comes from himself. I'm only a representative, I'm only another shepherd of the good chief shepherd. He alone is head of the church. He alone is working powerfully through his spirit to accomplish his means of grace in your lives. He is the head of the church. The elder also, he can make no laws, he cannot add to God's word. He also has the responsibility to never subtract from it, but to declare the whole counsel of God to you. But only ever declaring unto you what God's word says, not his own opinions, not his own commandments, not what he thinks is right, but what God's word says. But Christ alone, he's the one who offers forgiveness for his people. He alone is the one who offers life everlasting. It's our job to declare that to you, to minister his good gifts to you. And the elder can never do this alone, but he's one among many who share this responsibility and to whom he's always held accountable. We're accountable to one another just as we are accountable to the chief shepherd, just as we are accountable to Christ himself. He is the chief shepherd. He is the overseer of your soul. He is the savior of your soul. And so in all of this, as we've all already said at the beginning, and as we conclude, can we conclude with this too? That Christ, may he receive all of the glory. Everything that we say, everything that we've talked about in these sermons, as we've gotten into the technical details of all these things, may Christ always be seen in all of them. that we have nothing apart from Him. So if you have not trusted in Christ for your salvation, if you have not done so, if you don't know where you would go if you were to die today, If you question His love for you, if you're doubting His faithfulness, His love, His mercy, the forgiveness of sins, if you have questions about His holy word, if you are doubting His goodness towards you, that Christ is dead for you and if you come to Him, He will never cast you out. That's His promise. Even if you've believed in Him for 50 plus years, look to Him. Never miss the the central focus of our time together, the central focus and purpose of our lives, which is to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. He alone is worthy. Look to Christ. Bring your burdens to Him, cast them at His feet. He is gentle and lowly of heart. He himself bore your sins in his body on the tree. By his wounds, you are healed, you are forgiven, you are set free. So come to Christ, and if there's any way that we can serve you in pointing you to him, then may we do so, all for his glory. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you alone are head of the church. You alone are the lawgiver. You alone are the Savior of sinners. You rule and reign in yourself and you contain all power and authority. Yet in accordance with your will that is never thwarted, you have entrusted the precious message of the gospel to fallible men like me. And in order that it would be the power of the gospel that would shine bright and that the might of your name would receive all the glory. So may you be glorified in that way in us today. May we never point to ourselves but always point to you, the shepherd and overseer of our souls. And it's in your name we pray, amen.