We're going through a series on the distinctives of Christ Fellowship Bible Church. And the distinctive that I was assigned to talk about tonight was elder leadership and shepherd leadership. So we're going to spend a lot of time in the Word of God. If anybody did not get a handout, there are some on the table back there. But I want to tell you a couple of quick stories as to why this topic is so near and dear to me. For those of you who don't know, professionally I work for a bank that specializes in helping churches all over the country with their various financing and banking needs and things like that. And I've seen a couple of occasions where church leadership has been very, very important in a negative way relative to a couple of different churches. thinking of a church in a different city where I was sitting with the pastor. It was a church plant. It was a number of years old. And this young man was explaining to me that some rocky times happened early in the life of this church as a result of an unqualified man being appointed into leadership. It was a It was a recognizable business leader in their community, and he was giving substantially to the church. His family was large and prominent locally, the kind of businessman that anybody in this city would be aware of who he was. And the first thing they did was, when he started showing up and writing big checks, somebody had the bright idea, we need to make this guy an elder. And this young man tearfully told me the story, this young pastor tearfully told me the story of how They had appointed this man as an elder. He got fast-tracked. And one of their very first elder meetings, there was a tremendous amount of conflict that came about. And essentially, the man who had been appointed as an elder had tried to flex some muscle and tried to do an end-around. The elder board had voted on a certain matter, and he wanted to try some influence to have them go against the decision that the elder board had made. and it led to conflict and unfortunately because this was a one-on-one conversation it led to a situation where the pastor was not able to share this with the congregation but all they knew was that the man and his money and his family were all of a sudden gone. And so there was a situation where a church clearly did not follow God's will as it pertains to being very, very diligent in vetting prospective elders, and also not being concerned about the qualifications of whether or not this man actually served. So here's a church, and this was a tremendous setback for this young church. And so they had made a miscue, they had sinned in their process of appointing elders and governing, and it led to a real setback in this young pastor's leadership. And so I share that with you by way of background, just to reinforce for you why these things are so very important, that we follow God's will as it pertains to church leadership. So our distinctive tonight is church leadership. There are a couple of different, one of the things is you'll notice the handouts, there's one of my favorite authors who wrote most of the attachments for this, a young man by the name of Jeff Kirkland, who happens to be our pastor. I will tell you, I told Jeff earlier this week, I'd been thinking for probably a month on the way I wanted to approach this and all the other stuff, and quite honestly, Jeff wrote the best material I could find on what on a biblical approach to shepherd leadership, church leadership, so I am going to borrow slash steal heavily from a lot of his writings that will shape much of our conversation. I think one of the things I want to highlight for us tonight is the importance of submission when it comes to the topic of church leadership. You know, I was thinking about church leadership, I think, is evidence of God's care for the church. I mean, God wants, you look at Ephesians 4, Ephesians 5, I mean, the entire book of Ephesians, God wants his church, the Bride of Christ, to be healthy, to be unified, to be at peace, to be strong, to have a minimum amount of conflict and turmoil in the body of Christ. And I think In that sense, church leadership is, in a sense, one of God's gifts to try to keep that in place, to try to make sure that peace and cohesion and unity is maintained in the body of Christ. If you look at Genesis chapter 3, and I think one of the results of the fall, and as a guy who up until recently we had four teenagers, so I'm fully aware of what lack of submission to authority looks like, and in my own heart and in the hearts of my kids. But, you know, one of the things that resulted from the fall in Genesis chapter 3 was rebellion against authority. If you look at so much of the situation of why the world is the way it is, it's because people, as a result of the fall, refused to submit to authority. And our family is going through a gospel training model called Two Ways to Live. And one of the ways they describe the fall is that man basically told God, I don't want you to run my life, I want to run my life. And when you look at all that's going on around us, the consequences of that fall, you see you see what it looks like when man tries to run his own life apart from God's authority. And it's a mess. And so, as followers of Christ, we want to, we have intentionally, by repenting of our sins, and by making Christ Lord, He is authority, which means that we have placed ourselves under His authority. And so we come to God's Word tonight to learn about church leadership, to learn about shepherd leadership, But the idea is that everybody's under authority. that even the elders of the church are under God's authority and the sheep, what the Bible talks about, kind of the shepherds and the sheep, that the congregation is also under authority. We're all under God's authority, but to be a sheep with shepherds is to intentionally place oneself under the authority of the elders who we believe God has appointed for the benefit of the sheep, for the benefit of even the elders. And the idea is, again, peace, unity, cohesion, which is foreign to the world that we live in, but it should be a marking characteristic of the body of Christ. And so, that's our topic for tonight, is church leadership and all that flows from that. Let's turn to a couple of foundational passages. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. verses 1-7. The first two passages are really going to talk a lot about the qualifications of the elder and will touch very prominently on what the role of the elder is. And then the third passage, Hebrews 13, is really going to be talking more about what are the responsibilities of the sheep to the shepherd. So here we are in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1-7. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money, He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? And not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So that gives a good overview for the qualifications of an elder in the church. Now let's turn to the next passage, 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. So you see some of the key thoughts about what the role of an elder is in there in shepherding the flock and things like that and an attitude of humility. Next let's look at, back to the left, we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 13 verses 17 to 21. This passage is going to talk somewhat about the shepherd, the sheep's role relative to the shepherds. Very foundational to that topic. Hebrews 13, 17 to 21. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So when you look at all three of these passages, one of the common themes that comes out is ultimately These all touch on church leadership and our response to church leadership, but one of the common themes through all three of those passages, what we're really about is the glory of Christ being seen here on earth. So this is not primarily about my feelings being heard or submission to authority, whatever the case may be. What really drives these passages and God's very intentional placement of church leadership in place in the form of elders and that kind of thing is that the glory of Christ be seen here on earth. And that's so very important because as we get deeper into this we'll talk more about submission to authority and what do these relationships look like on an ongoing basis. It's so very important to keep the honor and glory of Christ first and foremost in our minds because you put a bunch of sinners in one group together, people are going to get their feelings hurt, people are going to say things that they're going to later come to regret. But the governing thing that has to guide all these things is, what can, he talks about it here in this, equip you in verse 21, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So our goal is to please our Savior, recognizing that it's the glory of Christ that really matters most. So at the end of the day, my feelings being hurt or whatever is not the primary driver, but we want the relationships within the church to be pleasing to God and to reflect the glory of Christ in this world. Because again, as we talk about, as the world out there you know, kind of fights to manipulate and control and jockey for position and get the upper hand and everything. God would have his church governed by very different principles, very different roles, and the rules of relationships that are involved. So we want to keep that in mind as we begin the discussion. So let's turn to two other passages really quick that I think speak a lot to Matthew chapter 20, verses 25 to 28. So Jesus here is speaking to what should be our attitude, what should be the attitude of the leaders, what should be the attitudes of the people within the church, I think, which will help shape our conversation. But Jesus called, verse 25, but Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great men exercised authority over them. This is not a surprise, right? This is people jockeying for control. This is what we see in the world today. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for money." So just as Jesus is called the Great Shepherd, and elders are referred to as shepherds in the Word, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and that's supposed to be the role of the elder. So that servant mentality should really be shaping the mindset of church leadership and how they interact with the congregation. Let's turn also to James chapter 4, if you would. This is also a helpful passage to kind of help shape our thoughts about church leadership and how we respond to it. James chapter 4, verses 1 through 10. And when we get to verse 7, I want you to key in on the phrase, submit therefore to God. So James chapter 4, verses 1 through 10. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us, but he gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you." So again, in that passage, humility is very much that. In the first Peter passage in particular, and the Matthew passage as well. Humility is very much supposed to be a marking characteristic of church leadership, of all of us as we collectively and individually submit to God. But again, that should help shape our conversation as it pertains to church leadership. What we see so much in our culture, and we see seeds of this in our own hearts, is a hunger for power and control and to manipulate people and take personal advantage of people. However, followers of Christ, we're really to be marked by submission and love and putting the interests of the other person before ourselves. And that flows into clearly from these passages, that's God's desire to shape the relationship between the shepherds and the sheep, the great shepherd and the sheep, obviously. So anyway, I just wanted to share those with you. But again, What will kind of shape our conversation is that Jesus loves his church. He gives elders, he gives church leaders as an expression of that love for his church. He wants order, he wants peace, he wants unity. And so we want to submit to God's will relative to this. So I made a copy of, as attachments, I made a copy of four articles. that Jeff wrote which really tackled. We're going to skim through this stuff, but it's very, very good stuff. And so the author is right over here. If you have a grievance with any of the writings, feel free to take it up with him after the service tonight. But there's really three that I want to touch on first and foremost. The first one is the first attachment, which is the philosophy of leadership. And again, a lot of churches out there do not think very deeply about church leadership. And so that's why I'm pleased that this is a distinctive of Christ Fellowship Bible Church. Because this has been thought, as you're going to see in these papers, and I would encourage you to take these home and read them and meditate on them and see just how much thought has been put into these. Because church leadership is something that's taken very seriously around here. It's not taken lightly at all. A lot of churches have a very different approach, and I think suffer the consequences of that. So let's give a quick read through the philosophy of leadership paper. It should be around page four in your handout. So let's talk a little bit about the philosophy of church leadership. A church is only as strong as its leadership. If the leadership falters, the people will falter. The sheep will never rise above the spiritual maturity and spiritual piety of the leadership. Biblically, there are numerous elements required to obey the mandate for leadership in the local church. So Jeff Scott here. Five points that really shape his and the church's philosophy of leadership and why this is such a central part of having and maintaining a healthy church body. Number one, leadership in the church must be men. The scriptures reveal that the leadership in the local church is to be led and governed by men. The leader is to be the husband of one wife, literally a one woman man. Those who lead in the church, those who preach in the church, those who teach in the church, and shepherd in the church must be men. So feel free to look at those Bible references also. I'll keep going so we can get through much of this material. Number two, leadership in the church must be a plurality of men. There's a resounding consensus in the New Testament that the leadership of the local assembly of believers is to be a plurality of men, not a one-man show. Paul tells Timothy to appoint elders in every city. Even Moses was commanded to select able men to lead the people of Israel. Paul appointed elders as he went from city to city. Thus, in the local church, a plurality of men and leadership can ensure accountability, honesty, integrity, support, encouragement, and mutual submission. And a lot of you guys, a lot of you are going to know that our offsite elder, Lance Quinn, and Jeff together have been serving in the elder role at CFPC. So this has not been, Jeff may be benevolent, but he's not a benevolent dictator, okay? So this has been something that I know that Jeff has interacted very frequently with Lance, a very mature, experienced churchman for various issues relative to church. So I love that even from the founding of the church three years ago next month, So even from day one, there was a plurality of elders because I can tell you as a guy who interacts with churches professionally, a lot of churches do not go down this path. It's a, what do I want to do? And it's, you know, it's really again, run as a, run as a dictatorship and it just leads to all kinds of problems. So let's move on. Number three, leadership in the church should be elder led. This means that most of the decisions in the local church can and should be made by the leadership team. This ensures that the decisions in the local church are spiritual decisions that have been made by a group of godly, biblically-minded men as opposed to a congregational vote where there may be many believers and non-believers together voting on how to run and order Christ's church. 4. Leadership in the church must be biblically qualified. There are numerous scriptures in the New Testament that clearly spell out who is qualified to be an elder and what kind of life he must exemplify. He must first desire to be an elder. No man should be forced into the office of elder. Second, he must demonstrate spiritual qualities in his life and in his character. Such qualities include a man who is above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household well, how will he take care of the Church of God? And not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the combination of the devil. He must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. The elder will not be perfect in these qualifications, but he must certainly be demonstrating a consistent pattern of holiness in his character, his marriage, his home, his work, and in the world. Randy, Diane, Gwen and I, Jeff and Elizabeth, when we gave our testimonies last Sunday night at our dinner, I think Jeff gave an overview of the process by which myself and Randy and our wives were examined relative to this process. And it was very long, it was very thorough, but rightly so. Again, most churches don't take it nearly this seriously. I'm not aware of another church where co-workers were actually interviewed to see whether or not the prospective elder had a good reputation with outsiders. So clearly it's a biblical qualification. I'm just not aware of another church that's actually done it. So praise God that the process was taken seriously. So I pray that God will honor that process. The other thing I'll mention to you is since that topic came up, is that I've had a number of people just over the last week reach out and say that they want to get to know Gwen and I a little bit more and as part of the kind of the whole elder qualification process things like that. Hallelujah that's great I mean that that's that that shows me that not just this is not just Jeff and Randy and our wives and everything taking this seriously but that the sheep are taking this seriously which hallelujah because Clearly the congregation has a vested interest in this being a healthy church and so the fact that you all are taking these qualifications and the role of elder seriously, that just speaks to a very healthy church that cares about the people who will potentially serve in leadership roles. So I applaud that very much. Number five, leadership in the church must be spiritual shepherds. Being an elder requires one of one to be a spiritual shepherd and guardian over the souls of sheep. An elder must be a spiritual man. He must be a man of the word, a man of integrity, a man who believes and loves the gospel, a man who can articulate the gospel and exhort people to believe and be saved from divine wrath. He must be willing to care for people, to counsel them from God's word, to apply God's word to various life situations, and to rebuke people who stumble into sin. Thus an elder must be a spiritual shepherd who has sanctified Christ as Lord in his own heart and life. One of the things that we've talked about throughout the lengthy training process that we've been through is that, quite honestly, a lot of churches treat the elder position similar to a board position in a company. kind of make decisions, but not really be connected to the people. And one of the things that we have talked about on numerous occasions is how this is really about caring for people. This is not primarily about budgets and things like that. It's primarily about the soul's well-being of the people in the church. And so that's something that we need to keep in our whole process, and I praise God for that. Any questions before we move on? Just so you know, there's a lot of really good stuff out there on the church website. And so let's move on. Skip the next one. In the interest of time, I'd like you to go to the one that starts out, the shepherd motif, his character, role, and duties. This one's really going to be, and this is such a, again, in God's providence, I think it's so good that this teaching comes up at this time in the life of our church, where we are. And this next one, the shepherd motif, is really going to be talking about what is the role of the shepherd. So it's really what should the sheep be able to expect from the elders of the church. So let's go through this one quickly and then the next one, submitting your church leadership, is really going to talk about what is the sheep's role relative to the shepherd's. So let's try to hit on both of those before we So the shepherd motif is character, role, and duties. Number one, the shepherd feeds. The primary role of the shepherd is to feed the flock and provide the necessary sustenance they need to live. Just as a shepherd leads his flock to green pastures where they can graze and find their fill, so the pastor's most fundamental responsibility is to lead his flock into the Word of God and feed them from the Word of God so that they can apply the meaning of the Word to God to their own lives. Thus, if a pastor neglects the duty, he has forfeited his calling. Indeed, it does not matter whether a shepherd does every other thing necessary to care for his sheep. If he omits the feeding of the flock, they will die quickly. And so it is with the pastor and his necessary role to provide spiritual food for the flock for the regular and full spiritual growth. How long, Jeff, have we been doing the Friday morning men's studies? Is that a year and a half? No, two and a half years. Probably since we moved in. So anyway, it's pushing three years that we've been doing the Friday morning. And a lot of the guys here have been to that on at least one occasion. So we've got on average probably 14-ish guys showing up on a Friday morning at 6 o'clock. who are being, who are feeding on the word. And I know from a guy who's, I haven't missed too many of those, have benefited greatly. But the whole point is, this is word open. Jeff is, Jeff is training us on the We're almost finished. We're heading into the book of Revelation. But week by week we've been going through what each book of the Bible teaches. It's tremendously helpful to have someone with Jeff's training to teach us on how to engage with work because the idea is, it doesn't stop there, we're supposed to be then feeding our wives and our kids and people around us. And so that is if I know nothing about this church, but that if you're coming to meet with somebody from the church, you better have your Bible with you. Because I know if I'm having lunch with Jeff, if I don't have my Bible, I think he's going to pull my ear. Because he knows full well that the transforming power is in the Word of God. This is a very, very special book. The transforming power of God is in this book, and we need to be there. So number one is the shepherd feeds the sheep. Number two, the shepherd guards. One aspect of a shepherd's responsibility includes that of watching out for incoming predators. When he sees a wolf or some other ravenous beast encroaching upon his flock, he quickly and fearlessly takes that intruder on head to head. He cannot run, he cannot flee, he cannot hide or he has squandered his role as shepherd and consequently his flock will die. But he must watch constantly and be on guard tirelessly so that when an unwelcome predator approaches, he boldly stands up against the foe and protects his flock. There's a lot of really bad teaching out there. Okay, there's a lot of really bad teaching out there. And thankfully, Jeff is really good at helping sort through that, because a lot of people that portray themselves as Bible teachers and things like that, they've got a very different message. And so it's very helpful to have shepherds around who will help protect us from bad teaching. Number three, the shepherd protects. And when that predator attacks, the shepherd must protect his sheep. He must fight for them. He must engage in hand-to-hand combat for their safety and well-being. He must engage in the hard, tough, and sometimes the seemingly endless battles that rage against the foes. But this is the responsibility of the shepherd. The sheep, in fact, are helpless. They cannot defend for themselves. They don't know how to defend for themselves. The shepherd must keep watch over and protect his flock from being torn to pieces. Next up, the shepherd counts. Every true shepherd knows exactly who his flock is. He knows how many sheep he has and when one is missing. He leaves the flock and carefully searches until he finds that lost sheep. He knows those who are his. He calls them by name. He loves them. He knows which sheep are in his flock and which sheep belong to the flock of another. And so it is with the biblical pastor. He must count his sheep, know them, and frequently call them by name. He should know when one is missing and he should know who is a part of his flock and who is a part of the flock of another. How unnatural it would be for a shepherd to allow any and every sheep that so desired to roam freely against his flock in the same way the pastor of a church ought not to let any and every sheep roam freely amongst his flock without accountability and membership. In another month or two, I'm going to be teaching on church membership. please become a member. If you're a sheep, please become a member. If you think of this as your home flock, your home church, please become a member. It's a really big deal. If you look at this paragraph, that first Peter 5 passage says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Think about the difference. I'll let you a little bit of window into my talk a couple of months down the road. But if someone has not been through the membership process, we haven't heard a personal testimony, they haven't officially submitted themselves to the authority of the elders of the church, it's very important, as we learned from Genesis 3 and as we see all around us, it's very important for us to intentionally submit ourselves to authority. and we put ourselves at great harm when we choose not to do so. If the shepherd needs to know who the sheep are, it's very important that they go through the membership process. Our culture tends to be allergic to and avoid membership. Anything that smells of commitment is to be avoided. That's not God's model for the church. God's model for the church is we know who the sheep are, they've been interviewed, they're officially members, they've placed themselves under authority. That's how God, that's his means of keeping peace and unity within the church. I'll hit you with that sledgehammer again in a couple of months, but it's something to be taken very, very seriously. Number five, the shepherd tends. The shepherd tends his flock by serving them. He must be willing to be dirty, and he must be willing to lead them, care for them, act in love toward them, protect them, and guard them even when there is little, if any, response. And in the same way, the pastor of Christ's church must also tend his flock by serving them genuinely and faithfully regardless of how the sheep respond. So to be a church leader is to be a servant, not a controlling, manipulative kind of situation. It's to assume the posture of a servant. Number six, the shepherd leads. Without a shepherd, the sheep will walk themselves off a cliff to their own destruction. But with the leading of a shepherd, they will follow him to the green pastures where they can graze, rest, and sleep. Without the exemplary leading of a pastoral shepherd, the flock has no one to follow. This is why the pastor must be above reproach and meet the spiritual and character qualifications in God's Word. He must lead his flock in such integrity that he can say to them, imitate me insofar as I am imitating Jesus Christ, the great shepherd. Number seven. The shepherd rebukes when a sheep wanders off the path and abandons the rest of the flock and he heads for a thorn brush, or worse, a cliff. The shepherd must use a shepherding rod and rebuke that sheep so that he realizes the imminent danger if left to his own way. The shepherd knows his sheep, accounts for them, and sees when they wander astray. And the most loving thing that a shepherd does is to rebuke the sheep with the rod so that the sheep is gathered back to the fold. And so it must be with the sheep in the church. When a shepherd sees a sheep in the church straying down a dangerous path of unbiblical doctrine or down a path of sinful conduct, the shepherd must, if he genuinely loves and cares for his sheep, go after the sheep and rebuke the sheep to restore that sheep to the shepherd. and to the flock. This is an essential element of shepherding. Keying on that third line from the bottom, the shepherd must, if he genuinely loves and cares for his sheep, go after the sheep and rebuke the sheep to restore that sheep to the shepherd and to the flock. I know Jeff loves me enough that if I find myself on a path of sin, he will pursue me. And that should really be the heart of the shepherd. Again, not to want to run somebody's life or whatever, but to warn them about the danger of ongoing sin in their lives and how that reflects poorly on Christ and puts their own souls in danger. Real quickly, the shepherd lives with, the shepherd thinks about, and the shepherd searches and restores. Feel free to read those last paragraphs, but in the meantime, I really want to jump into that last paragraph, which is submitting to church leadership. So this, again, is going to talk a lot more about what is the sheep's relationship to the shepherds that God has brought to the church. So again, Hebrews 13, 17, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Number one, submit obediently. An important command given to Christ Church is the command to submit obediently to the flock. This means that submission begins in the heart and it manifests itself in obedience to what the leadership decides on a given issue. To submit to the leadership is to obey the leadership with a heartfelt, eager, positive spirit. God's people should follow their leadership and submit obediently to their godly and wise counsel. 2. Submit joyfully. Since submission begins in the heart and manifests itself in outer conduct, the people of God should submit to their leadership with joy. Steadfast joy in Christ's Church should permeate every aspect of the ministry. Joy should come because of the sovereignty of God. Joy should come because Jesus Christ is the head of His Church and He is the one who holds all things together and works all things according to the counsel of His will. Christ's people should submit joyfully because joyful obedience is always better than a sour attitude. Number three, submit confidently. Since God rules the universe, God's people can have unshakable confidence. Since the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father and who is the only head over His body, the Church, His people must submit with confidence, knowing that nothing can spiral out of control since Christ holds all things in His control. Nothing can spiral out of control since it is the Lord of the Church who rules and reigns over every event in history, including His Church and its servant leaders. Number four, submit honestly. Submission is an attitude of the heart. To submit to the leaders that God has appointed thus means that a Christian should serve his church without deceit, manipulation, flattery, or adverse motives. To be honest is to act like God since God cannot lie. God shows himself to be truthful at all times and to all people because he is a true, faithful, and reliable God. He cannot deceive, break a promise, or be at fault. So to submit to the leaders of Christ's church with this kind of attitude would require one to honestly and humbly follow those whom God has appointed in a way that exemplifies Christ. Real quickly, submit edifyingly. To edify in the New Testament means to build up, to strengthen, to fortify. Every believer should have as his continual mindset to fortify and establish other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. To edify other believers, especially within the same local fellowship, requires that a number of vices be eliminated entirely. To submit edifyingly to leadership means that believers must never slander their leaders to other believers, especially within the same flock. To slander a pastor, an elder, a deacon, or anyone else who oversees a particular ministry of the church is to squash all opportunities of edification and to enhance all opportunities for division and disunity. Believers must not talk bad about or speak against those servant leaders that God has raised up and appointed as shepherds for his church. I pray that God would always protect this church from gossip, which can be so very, very hurtful. One of the things that, as I've spent a lot of time with Randy and Jeff over these last several years, I can tell you with great confidence I hope my own as well. I think our hearts are in the right place. I think we really want to see the people of the church thrive spiritually and grow and I see that in Jeff's commitment to the word and to continuously lead us in the word. I think it's so very important for us to have the right hearts attitude toward leadership and if we see something that we don't understand Don't go to somebody that has the potential to create a divisive spirit. Go to one of the elders, that person directly, and say, can you help me understand, but give the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, Randy, did you have something to say? I go to Larry, for instance, and say, I wonder if Lincoln was really, I don't know if that was a good idea, but what Lincoln was thinking about, you know, in terms of these sort of records. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. With an eye towards the glory of Christ, with an eye towards His name being held high in our church and in the interpersonal relationships we have in the church, as Randy said, it's always best to go directly to the person, help me understand, rather than foster the possibility of disunity or whatever by going to other people and things like that. It's just, again, indwelling sin, It's a reality, unfortunately, but a lot of times it's the sins of the tongue that can really do great harm to a church. And so my hope is that as we're in the Word and as the Spirit convicts and guides and things like that, that we'll A, give the benefit of the doubt to the leaders, and B, that we'll practice a really God-honoring way of communicating with one another. in openness and with an eye towards the beauty of Christ being seen through our church. We're going to run out of time here, so I'm going to just real quickly read the rest of these headings. Number six, submit knowledgeably. The Bible calls all Christians to know their leaders, so feel free to get to know us. I would encourage that greatly. Number seven, submit prayerfully. Prayer has to guide our relationships. And number eight, submit optimistically. Again, back towards not only our optimism and our hope that the shepherds of the church will have hearts that really want the best for the sheep, but also submit optimistically in the context of Jesus is the sovereign ruler of all things. So he wins. And we hope and believe that God has worked through the elder selection process and that that will be a blessing, that the church will be edified, that we'll be unified and peaceful and that ultimately the name of Christ will be held high as a result. So, thoughts, comments, questions? Yes, Carol. Carol's question was, if a member has decided that they want to leave the church, would the pastor or an elder still pursue them? My take on that, Carol, would be you certainly would want to find out why. Because again, I can't tell you the number of times, Carol, where I've seen where somebody gets their nose bent out of shape because they just completely misunderstood a situation. They saw something that really wasn't reality. So there may be some kind of legitimate reason for that, but certainly if the elders are to care for that sheep, they would certainly want to know more of the background of why that, what's going on. And so, yeah, that's a good question, Carol. Oh, can I bring something for you next week? Yeah. OK, good. I'll do that. We're just going through a gospel presentation training thing that our whole family is going through as far as learning how to share the gospel with people. But one of the things it touches on is how evidence of the fall is a refusal to submit to authority, which who doesn't have that in their own heart? Also, I just remembered. As one who has absolutely zero training in Greek, may I defer to our pastor? Which pastor should we talk about? Okay? But to me, the point being, some person said, you're going to be an elder. But I thought God gifted in elders. And then we said, oh, God made an elder over there. And then we just, OK, confirm. Yeah, you wouldn't want to read that English definition. OK. Yeah, because that's 20, whatever, verse 27, 28 talks about the spirit Good, good question. Yeah, Peter. If a shepherd is in the wrong, if a shepherd sins, And so what is the role? I think Matthew 18 would apply. So Matthew 18, the model is that if someone from the congregation sees a shepherd singing, the right way to approach that would be one-on-one. And so the sheep should go to the shepherd and say, I'm concerned, I saw this in your life. So I think, and then hopefully, if it is, as you say, if it is true, then hopefully the shepherd would respond with repentance and confession of sin and be restored in that way. If a shepherd were not repentant, Then I think it would be I think it would be legitimate for the sheep to If there was another person that was aware of it go to and in concern and in love go to the shepherd Yeah, go ahead Randy First Timothy 5 19 and 20 Let's see. So, do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of Allah so that the rest also will be fearful of sin. Good. Good. So, I think the application there would be that, what about, and how would that play out, Randy, if one sheep was aware of the sin of a shepherd, would it Right. Yep. Right, right, good, good thought. Did that, Peter, did that answer your question? Okay, beautiful, thanks. Let's wrap up. We gotta go. We got some word to listen to. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together. Father, we thank you for our church. Father, we come to you now as sheep needing to be fed from your word. Father, I pray that you would bless the worship service upcoming. I pray that it would be pleasing to you in all respects. I pray also, Father, that you would bless Pastor Jeff, that your Holy Spirit would use the word preached powerfully in our lives. Father, grow us, edify us. Father, we need our minds and our hearts to be more fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. And so, Father, we come to you now admitting our neediness and our brokenness. Father, may you be pleased to, if there are lost among us, Father, I pray that they would be born again by the preaching of your word. And Father, for those who are found, I pray that we would grow and that we would have humble hearts and that we would come to hear from you through your word, through your word preached this evening. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.