Shepherds, Not CEOs: The Biblical Mandate for Elder Leadership

• Corporate Sanctification [00:48:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that sanctification is a corporate endeavor dependent on involvement in the local church, not just an individual pursuit.
• Apostolic Leadership and Church Organization [00:50:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the role of apostles like Paul in traveling, proclaiming the gospel, and organizing new believers into local churches with stationary elders.
• Qualifications for Elders [00:53:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the question of what type of men should be appointed as elders, setting up a contrast between worldly leadership models and biblical standards.
• Church Leadership Qualities [00:53:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts worldly leadership models (Steve Jobs, Patton) with biblical leadership, emphasizing character, integrity, and servanthood over results and fear.
• The Office of Elder [01:00:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the elder office, explaining its plurality, etymology (presbyteros), and its equivalence to the overseer/bishop role.
• Shepherding the Flock [01:08:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor synthesizes the roles of elder, overseer, and shepherd using 1 Peter 5, defining the elder's function as shepherding the flock with humility.
• Elder Leadership and Shepherding [01:09:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the elder's role as shepherding the flock, exercising oversight willingly, and setting an example rather than domineering.
• Distinction Between Ruling and Teaching Elders [01:11:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues for a distinction between ruling elders (lay elders) and teaching elders (pastor-teachers), citing 1 Timothy 5:17 and Calvin's Institutes.
• Selection of Pastoral Leadership [01:18:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the congregational selection of pastors, arguing that a plurality of elders should lead the church in selecting the next pastor-teacher.
• Functions of Elders: Leading, Feeding, and Ordering [01:20:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines three functions: leading by example (under-shepherds), feeding with sound doctrine (hygiene/health), and putting matters in order.
• Elderly Instruction and Sound Doctrine [01:25:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the elder's role as giving instruction in 'sound doctrine' (hygienos/healthy), emphasizing that elders must teach the apostolic message rather than reinventing it or using personality to coerce.
• Shepherding as Feeding [01:27:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that elders lead by getting out of the way so the sheep hear Christ, citing Jesus' command to Peter to 'feed my sheep' and the necessity of feeding both the shepherd and the flock.
• Rebuke and Protection [01:29:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that elders must rebuke false teaching to protect the flock, countering 'toxic empathy' and 'niceties' that send people to hell, noting that the Holy Spirit also convicts/rebukes.
• Holding Fast to Truth [01:34:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the metaphor of a Marine Corps obstacle course rope climb, the pastor illustrates the need for elders to grip the apostolic teaching tightly ('hold firm') to prevent falling when under pressure.
• Plurality of Leadership [01:39:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical example of Martin Lloyd-Jones to argue that churches cannot depend on one man; they require a plurality of ruling elders to ensure longevity and prevent doctrinal drift.

• Sermon Illustration [00:51:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about visiting the island of Crete, describing its geography (130 miles long, 600 miles of coastline) and speculating on Paul's return there after imprisonment in Rome to organize churches.
• Sermon Illustration [00:53:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a legend about Steve Jobs' demanding leadership style, where he would ask employees in an elevator what they do for Apple, firing them if they couldn't answer coherently in 30 seconds.
• Sermon Illustration [00:54:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor begins telling a story about General Patton and a soldier installing a communication line under fire, but the transcript cuts off before the story is completed.
• Sermon Illustration [00:53:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a legend about Steve Jobs demanding a coherent 30-second answer about Apple or facing termination, and a story about General Patton where a soldier admits he was more afraid of Patton than the Nazis, illustrating worldly leadership based on fear and intimidation.
• Sermon Illustration [01:20:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a farming metaphor to describe the elder's role in ensuring the crop grows in rows and weeds are removed, contrasting it with the shepherding paradigm.
• Sermon Illustration [01:24:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the historical stigma of shepherds who 'stank' because they were around sheep, illustrating that elders must be amongst their people, not in an ivory tower.
• Sermon Illustration [01:24:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor mentions churches in Texas using hologram preachers as an example of absentee shepherding that is foreign to the New Testament.
• Sermon Illustration [01:25:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the etymology of 'parakaleo' (call alongside) and the image of a shepherd walking next to sheep to explain how elders should instruct.
• Sermon Illustration [01:32:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Peter Rabbit and Farmer McGregor to illustrate the elder's role in protecting the church 'crop' from false teachers ('rabbits') who seek to destroy the harvest.
• Sermon Illustration [01:35:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote from his time as a series commander at Parris Island, describing the Marine Corps obstacle course and the critical importance of using legs and not letting go of the final rope to avoid falling.
• Sermon Illustration [01:37:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a closing story about Martin Lloyd-Jones, noting that despite his greatness, his failure to raise up ruling elders led to a leadership vacuum and the eventual decline of Westminster Chapel into a charismatic church.

• Pastoral Charge [00:55:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down Matthew 20:25 in their notes.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down the referenced verses (Acts 11:30, Acts 14:23, James 5:14) for future study on elder qualifications.
• Pastoral Charge [01:13:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down Ephesians 4:11
• Pastoral Charge [01:20:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Underline the phrase 'put what remained into order' in their Bibles
• Pastoral Charge [01:40:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > Elders are prayed for and implicitly commanded to commit to leading, feeding, and protecting the sheep for God's glory.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:09:19] As we gather together in the presence of our God, would you stand to your feet as we read responsibly Psalm 46.
[00:09:29] I will read the blue font, so if you're colorblind, just read everything with me, and then you will read the white. But let's read responsibly together.
[00:09:41] God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear air. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its lofty pride, Selah. God is in the midst of her. She will not be shaken. God will help her when morning dawns. Yahweh of hosts
[00:10:31] is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold, Selah. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts up the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Yahweh of hosts
[00:11:06] is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Let's bow in prayer. We give you thanks, more than thanks, O Lord our God, for all your goodness in all times and in all places.
[00:11:31] You have shielded, rescued, helped And guided us all the days of our lives And you have brought us to this very hour We pray and beg of you, merciful God To grant in your goodness that we may spend this day
[00:11:50] And all the days of our lives Without sin, in fullness of joy Holiness and reverence for you please drive away from us oh lord all envy fear and temptations give us what is good and right
[00:12:11] in your mercy please pardon whatever sins we commit in thought word or deed lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil through the grace mercy and love of your only begotten son this we pray father for we know that all things come by you and through you so we come before you
[00:12:43] as your children humbly to offer up to you spiritual sacrifices that the spirit would take from our inner being those things that we joyfully submit to your sovereignty and would bring them before you as an offering of praise and we ask this in Jesus name amen well if we've
[00:13:04] read Psalm 46, then we must sing A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It's number 656 in your hymnal, and the words will be on the screen. Let's join together as we sing.
[00:13:16] Greet one another in the love of Christ.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:49] Well, good morning, King's Chapel. It's so good to see everyone here today.
[00:18:52] My name is Bruce Boleek, and I have the privilege of being one of your elders and also leading us in the Heidelberg Catechism questions for today. Can we put up the questions? Because there's a question about which ones we're doing today. So, okay. Yeah, it is different. Okay.
[00:19:10] So pardon me if I turn my back to you, but I don't have the correct questions here, or you're going to have to look at this to do it. Okay. So I'll ask the question and then we'll
[00:19:21] respond together with the answer. So question number 45, how does Christ's resurrection benefit us. First, by his resurrection, he has overcome death so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death. Second, by his power, we too are already raised
[00:19:47] to a new life. Third, Christ's resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.
[00:19:58] Question 46.
[00:19:59] What do you mean by saying he ascended to heaven?
[00:20:02] That Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.
[00:20:19] 47.
[00:20:20] But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?
[00:20:24] Christ is true human and true God. In his human nature, Christ is earth, but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and spirit, he is never absent from us. All right, thank you.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:20:45] Well, thank you, Bruce, and thank you, King's Chapel, for working through that. Good morning, and we want to welcome you to the King's Chapel. I'm so glad that you're here this morning and I hope that you have already received a very warm welcome for being here today. I've met a few of
[00:21:09] you as guests and so we are always thrilled to have guests with us and we thank you for being here. If you are a guest with us or perhaps this is your first time that you've been here or
[00:21:20] first time in a while, there is a connection card in the pew in front of you and if you would not mind to just take that and quickly fill that out for us. Let us have a little bit of
[00:21:32] information about you on the back of that card. You can jot down any questions you might have or anything that we might can help you with. We would love to connect with you to help you with those
[00:21:42] things. Or if you have a specific prayer request, just jot that on the back of the card and we would love to be praying for you during this coming week. And we just again want to thank you for
[00:21:54] being here. When you came in this morning, you were given a worship bulletin, and I'm trying to find mine here. There's a few announcements in there that I would love to highlight for you and just let you know some upcoming events. Next Sunday, after our service, after our morning
[00:22:13] service, immediately following the service, we're going to have a time of sort of a family update meeting. This is the elders and pastors attempts to just keep the congregation informed of what is going on here at the King's Chapel and any things, any changes that you need to know about. So next
[00:22:33] Sunday, right after the worship, we will meet for a few moments. And so we plan, please plan to be here for that. Also coming up in the next week or so, the first week of May, we will have another
[00:22:44] one of our Wednesday night spaghetti suppers. And so that is, we would love for you to register for that. That's coming up soon. And also on May 10th, which is Mother's Day weekend, we will be having
[00:22:57] our family dedications where we dedicate our parents and children as a commitment to the parents who raise their child in a Christian home and in the admonition of the Lord. So if you have a small child that you would like to be part of that, just let Tilly Turlington know and she will
[00:23:15] get you scheduled on that. Let her know by next week. We are also continuing with our member photo op. So we have about probably a third of you have been photographed and we'd love to get
[00:23:29] 100% of you photographed. So there's a QR code there in the bulletin. If you please scan that, sign up for an appointment. We're trying to make it as easy as possible. We'd love to have your
[00:23:39] photo included in the church directory there. Also, just coming up in the future, but there are some registrations you need to be aware of. Our Salt Shakers Women's Bible Study will begin back in the fall. They will be studying Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians during
[00:23:56] the 26-27 year, but you need to go ahead and register for that, as well as Vacation Bible School. It's coming up in June, June 22nd through the 25th. So please take advantage of the online
[00:24:09] registration to get your child registered for Vacation Bible School. We want them to be a part of that. And again, these are important announcements. Please look at those and register for those things so that you might be included in the activities here at the King's Chapel.
[00:24:26] again we welcome you this morning and it's at this time in our service we'll I'll ask our ushers to come forward as they come forward to collect our offering and so if as they're coming
[00:24:38] forward I would just ask if you would please pray with me this morning. Heavenly Father Lord we thank you for the incredible gift of worship because through worship we are drawn into your presence and we come before you with praise and singing and lifting our voices in song to honor
[00:24:59] and adore you with the reading of the scripture and the preaching of the word and father we thank you for the your for you blessing us with your word and the truth of your word which never changes
[00:25:10] father we come before you today with praise and adoration for your for your holiness for your greatness for your loving kindness to all who call upon your name and lord we praise you that your steadfast love endures forever yours is the greatness and the power and the and the glory and
[00:25:29] the splendor for everything in heaven and on earth is yours and you are exalted as a head over all father we thank you for reconciling us to you through your son jesus christ and for the holy
[00:25:43] spirit who empowers us to be effective witnesses for your kingdom here on this earth this morning we ask that you would be with our pastor with pastor grant as he preaches the word give him
[00:25:55] boldness and clarity as he brings the message that you have laid upon his heart and may everything that is done and said here today be for the exaltation of your great name and for the sake
[00:26:07] of christ and lord as we received these tithes and offerings this morning may they be used for your glory, to further your kingdom in this church, in this city, and around the globe.
[00:26:21] And Lord, we thank you and praise you this day. In Christ's name, amen.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:26:25] My shepherd will supply. We're going to sing a hymn that I don't think we've sung this year in

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:31:51] 502 in your hymnal, written by a young lady as she watched after the death of her father, she watched him try to rescue a child from drowning and he was unsuccessful and this hymn was written to remember that event tis so sweet to trust in Jesus let's stand together

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:32:13] grab a bible there should be one in the pew in front of you and open to the book of Titus chapter 1 beginning in verse 5 this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put put what
[00:36:30] remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer is God's steward must be above reproach. He must not
[00:36:51] be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to
[00:37:14] rebuke those who contradict it. This is God's holy word. You may be seated. Heavenly Father, we come to the throne of grace this morning. We thank you that your promises are so sure as we just recited in the catechism in the resurrection, that the resurrection is the
[00:37:43] guarantee that all those who call upon the name of the Lord in faith are justified. The resurrection is proof that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died for sinners so that all who call upon
[00:38:00] his name will be saved, and not just saved, but resurrected, where we will reign with Christ.
[00:38:09] We praise you, resurrected and ascended Christ, who rules and reigns at the right hand of the Father. Lord, we thank you that you intercede for us, that you plead for us, that you watch over us, that in your sovereignty you guide the course and direction of our lives, that you are
[00:38:35] the sovereign Lord. And so, Lord, in light of that fact, we understand that our trials are not only ordained by you, but used by you for our good and for our sanctification.
[00:38:54] For this reason, we count it all joy when we encounter various sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our
[00:39:11] hearts through the Holy Spirit we pray Lord as we strive to walk in this world as pilgrim Christians that we would put away works of darkness that we would repent of evil deeds that we would put on
[00:39:29] the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would put on the armor of light, that we would put on the armor of God. We pray, Lord, that you would sanctify us, that you would build us up in good works,
[00:39:43] that if there is any impurity that we know of in our lives, that we would repent of it, that we would turn from it, and Lord, that we would yield every square inch of our lives to
[00:39:55] the lordship of jesus christ lord we pray for our sanctification we know lord that sometimes sanctification is difficult and it hurts but lord our desire is to be like christ we thank you lord for how you guarded the president and the vice president and so many leaders last night at the
[00:40:20] correspondence dinner how you spared lives and you brought what could have been evil to a decisive end. As you commanded us, we pray for all those who are in authority. We pray, Lord, for their
[00:40:33] conversions. We pray, Lord, that they would truly repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone, apart from works, for that is what saves. So we pray for President Trump and Vice President Vance, their cabinet. We pray for congressmen, senators, the judicial branch. We pray, Lord,
[00:40:58] for conversion, for faith, for repentance.
[00:41:03] We thank you, Lord, that you are building your church, that you promised to build your church from the time of the apostles until you return, that you will do this, and that you build your church
[00:41:16] through the proclamation of the word of God.
[00:41:18] So, Lord, this morning, as the word of God is being proclaimed all across the earth, we pray, Lord, that the word would go forth in power.
[00:41:29] We pray, Lord, this morning, in this place, that you would enlighten our minds to the truth, that you would speak through me in the power of your Holy Spirit, that the word of God would be a sword to our hearts, carving away
[00:41:45] what needs to be rid of and implanting what you want to grow. We pray, Lord, for our worship this morning, that we would worship you in the heart, that this would not just be a mere exercise,
[00:42:00] eyes, but even now that you would kindle a flame, the love of Christ in our hearts. Lord, we love you. You are the treasure hidden in a field. You are the pearl of great price. And we have come to
[00:42:16] what is truly valuable, which is Christ. So Lord, may we worship you now in the spirit from the heart. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Let's continue singing, if you would, with the hymn

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:42:34] Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners. It's number 156 in your hymnal. Let's stand together as we sing.

[00:42:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:42:42] ...to Titus chapter 1. We're going to be looking at verses 5 to 9, the passage

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:48:36] that I just read. When you study the New Testament epistles that Paul wrote, you notice very quickly that Paul understood sanctification to be a corporate endeavor, that it takes place in the life of the church. Even the epistles of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus were written to
[00:49:00] pastors and evangelists, and they were meant to be read in the local churches. As Americans, sometimes I think we look at our Christian growth as an individual endeavor, that we grow as individuals. And in many ways, that's true. We are instructed to read the Word of God. We are
[00:49:21] instructed to pray. We are instructed to meditate on the Word of God. And all of these things we have to take responsibility for. We have to put sin to death. Nobody can put sin to death for you.
[00:49:32] You have to turn away from temptation. But yet at the same time, it's also very clear that your sanctification also depends upon your involvement in the body of Christ, the local church.
[00:49:52] So Paul, an apostle, an apostle was someone who had seen the risen Christ and had been appointed by Christ to serve as an apostle. That office has since come to an end. So obviously with the death
[00:50:11] of Paul and then later John, there are no more apostles. The apostles would travel. They were not local leaders. They were global leaders, and their responsibility was to bring Christianity to the uttermost parts of the earth. And they would proclaim the good news of the gospel, the good
[00:50:36] news of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. And through that proclamation, the Holy Spirit would bring pagans. We're talking about pagans all over the Roman Empire to the east, he would bring people to faith in Christ. And the apostolic method was then to organize these
[00:50:58] new believers into churches. And that's exactly what Paul would do. Everywhere he went, he would proclaim the gospel, people would believe, and then he would organize these new believers into a church. So when you read the book of Acts, you remember Paul was arrested in Jerusalem,
[00:51:19] him, and then he appealed to Caesar. They took him eventually to Rome, and the book of Acts ends, Acts 27, Acts 28, where Paul is shipwrecked, and then he eventually makes his way to Rome. Well,
[00:51:32] you read in Acts 27, on the boat ride to Rome, they stopped on the island of Crete. Crete is, it looks on a map like a hot dog in the middle of the Mediterranean, but it's over a hundred
[00:51:48] miles long. I think it's 130 miles long, 30 miles wide, has 600 miles of coastline. So this is a huge island when you're there. We went there last year, a group of us. It's a huge island,
[00:52:03] rocky coastline. And most likely what happened, so Paul was imprisoned in Rome. He was released from that imprisonment and went back to Crete. Maybe he liked the beaches there, we don't know.
[00:52:15] But he went back to Crete, and he proclaimed the gospel.
[00:52:19] Lots of people became Christians, and then there's lots of different harbor towns all over Crete, and he began to organize those people into churches.
[00:52:28] But the work was not done.
[00:52:30] Remember, he's an apostle.
[00:52:32] His responsibility is to travel around.
[00:52:34] So he leaves Titus there.
[00:52:37] he says Titus your responsibility is to ordain and appoint elders in every church because the elders are going to be the leaders the elders are to be the stationary local leaders in the church they're not to be itinerant they're to stay there and they're to lead those individual congregations
[00:53:04] and so what you have here in this passage are instructions to Titus and and clearly Paul had given this via oral directives because remember he says look at verse 5 he says appoint elders in every town as I directed you so these were already instructions that he had given to Titus
[00:53:26] now what type of men was he to appoint that's an important question I think it's a question that many churches fail to ask and fail to answer. Because when we look at the world, we see one standard of leadership. We see a type of leadership model that in many ways
[00:53:53] achieves results. Y'all remember a fellow by the name of Steve Jobs? There's a legend about Steve Jobs that if you got on an elevator with Steve Jobs, nobody wanted to get on an elevator with
[00:54:10] Steve Jobs, he would ask you, what do you do for Apple? And if you couldn't give a coherent answer in about 30 seconds, you were packing your bags. You were done. There's stories about General
[00:54:29] Patton. World War II, one time there was a soldier that was installing a communication line up on a pole, maybe 20, 30 feet in the air, and the Nazis were shooting at him. And Patton rolls up in his
[00:54:46] jeep and he sees rounds going off, wood chips flying. This soldier's being shot and the soldier's up there bravely, wrapping the wire, doesn't hesitate, doesn't falter, climbs back down, and Patton comes up to him, and he says, soldier, that was incredible bravery.
[00:55:05] That was absolutely amazing. How did you do that? And he looked at Patton, and he said, because, sir, I'm more afraid of you than I am of the Nazis. My point is, is that there's a type
[00:55:18] of leadership in the world that achieves results, is there not? Is that the type of leadership that Jesus expects in the kingdom of God? Jesus said this, jot this verse down, Matthew 20, 25.
[00:55:37] Jesus called to them, his disciples, and said to them, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. In other words, how do they
[00:55:53] lead. They lead by fear, intimidation. If you don't do this the right way, I'm coming for you.
[00:56:04] He says, it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be
[00:56:18] served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. The point is, is that the type of men that Titus was to be looking for is not necessarily the type of leader that the world
[00:56:35] looks at and commends. Leaders in Christ's church are not CEOs. They're under shepherds of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are to follow the pattern of leadership of Christ himself.
[00:56:58] I once heard Alistair Begg say that there are five important qualities of a Christian leader.
[00:57:05] They are, first, character over gifting, character over gifting. Second, integrity, honesty third a servant heart a willingness to serve others to put the interest of others ahead of himself fourth faithfulness to the word of God faithfulness to the word of God
[00:57:35] and fifth self-examination that you look internally and you ask the question does my life measure up to the standards of Christ. Charles Spurgeon said there were three qualities that he looked for in a leader. Leaders in Christ's church, first, he said, must be saved men.
[00:58:00] That's obvious, right? They must be regenerate. They must be believers. Secondly, he said they must be godly men. They must have a spiritual vitality about them. And then third, he said they must be virtuous men. They must be men of character, men of integrity. So what we're looking for in
[00:58:23] leaders in the church is godliness. Godliness. We're looking for men who serve Christ. They love Christ and they want to serve him no matter the cost. That's so important, isn't it? Because it's so easy to desire to make a name for yourself, to lead in such a way that tries to pull at the
[00:58:53] results and do the bidding of men rather than the bidding of God. It's so important to have Christ-like leaders, somebody who trembles at the Word of God. We need men who fear God more than
[00:59:15] they fear men. There's a verse in Galatians. This just came to me, but I've been, I go back to this often. This is Galatians 1.10. Paul says, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
[00:59:35] Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. That's big. How often are we trying to please people? How often are we worried about
[00:59:50] what people think about us more than what Christ thinks about us? Paul says he lives with this mentality where he's concerned about what Christ thinks, not what people think. And that's the type of leader who is to serve in the church. So this morning I want to answer two questions from this
[01:00:09] text. Two questions. First, what is this office of elder that Paul mentions in verse 5? And then the second question, what do elders do? What do elders do? So that's it, those two questions.
[01:00:28] And then next week, we'll look at the qualifications of the elders. We'll begin to look at what type of character is required for the office. So as we said, the New Testament office of leadership in the local church is the office of elder. Jot down these verses.
[01:00:50] This is mentioned in Acts 11 30 at the church in Jerusalem. Luke records they did so sending it to the elders the elders at the church of Jerusalem talking about a gift by the hand of Barnabas and
[01:01:05] Paul so at the church in Jerusalem there were elders plural notice that in Acts 14 23 this is really the apostolic method that I was telling you about Luke records when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord
[01:01:25] in whom they had believed. James records, this is James 5.14, is anyone among you sick?
[01:01:34] Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So I want to make three observations about this office of elder.
[01:01:49] first notice that it's in the plural notice that it's not the singular it is in the plural there were multiple elders to lead in every church now this word elder is the greek word presbyteros and it's where we get our english word presbytery or presbyterian which means
[01:02:18] elder rule, but this was an old Jewish word and it meant an older man, an older man. Religiously in the Sanhedrin, the synagogue, they were to be led, in Jewish life, they were to be led by these
[01:02:37] men called elders. For example, I was reading just this week in Ezekiel, this is Ezekiel 14, it says certain of certain men of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me so this was
[01:02:54] something going on way back in the Old Testament and when the apostles begin planting churches they take this idea from the synagogue so the synagogue they're led by a plurality of elders they take this same type of office and they begin using it in the local church so they essentially
[01:03:17] adopted this form of leadership does this mean that an elder is to be an older man more than often but it speaks to the level of wisdom and maturity that an elder has so for example Titus
[01:03:37] and Timothy, were they old men or young men? Probably younger men. These are younger men, but yet they're appointing elders. So these men would be qualified to be an elder. So it doesn't necessarily mean old, but it means old-like, that you're wise, that you have a modicum of biblical
[01:04:00] maturity. This is a quote from Calvin. He said, because of their wisdom, seriousness, and sound sense, it was as if they were already advanced in years. Don't you love that? It's like they're already a Methuselah. They're already advanced in years because of their wisdom. So under the
[01:04:27] guidance of the Holy Spirit, the apostles would appoint a plurality of elders in every local church. And that was to be the stabilizing leadership. And why is a plurality important?
[01:04:42] Why is a plurality important? Because in the local church, you have so many issues that you deal with, church discipline issues, questions of leadership, questions about how to shepherd somebody through a very difficult circumstance. And it's important. God has gifted his church with a multiplicity
[01:05:03] of spiritual gifts. And on that elder board, what you want to have is a multiplicity of gifts where men have different giftings. And when a problem happens, men know how to tackle that problem. Whereas if you just have one person standing alone, oftentimes that person quickly
[01:05:23] can become overwhelmed. And so this is the pattern plurality of elders. Second observation, notice this. They are often called by another title. So not just presbyteros, they're often called overseers. The Greek word is episkopos, where we get our word episkopal, which means bishop role.
[01:05:52] So literally the word that we would use to translate this, overseer, is bishop.
[01:05:59] Okay, let me break this word down because when you see the etymology of the word, you can understand what it means.
[01:06:04] So the word episkopos, it's the Greek preposition epi that comes in front and then skopos.
[01:06:14] What do you do with a scope?
[01:06:15] You look through it.
[01:06:18] Epi means above.
[01:06:20] You look from above.
[01:06:21] so the the bishop leads from above he looks from above he leads from above so look at verse seven notice this in verse seven so he's talking about elders right the the presbytery what what does he
[01:06:37] talk about in verse seven an overseer notice he uses this different title described to describe the same office he does the same thing if you if you read in first timothy three which is the
[01:06:50] parallel passage where he goes through the qualifications. He does not use the word elder, he uses the word overseer. For an overseer must be above reproach. So that's in 1 Timothy 3.1. In Acts chapter 20, this is verse 17. Remember when Paul is selling to Jerusalem,
[01:07:13] he gathers the elders from Ephesus and then in verse 28 of Acts chapter 20 he tells them pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you
[01:07:29] overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood so he called for the elders and then he gathers the elders and he says you are to shepherd the flock over which God has
[01:07:43] made you bishops or overseers. Now, I want to put this all together for you if you will turn over to the book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. This is an amazing passage,
[01:07:59] a passage that every pastor needs to visit again and again and again and again.
[01:08:08] This passage is important because Peter in this passage puts together three ideas, three words.
[01:08:16] he puts together the idea of an elder the idea of an overseer which we've already seen that those two go together and then this function of shepherding what's a shepherd a pastor a pastor somebody who shepherds sheep so look at this first peter chapter 5 so i exhort the elders among you
[01:08:41] again notice it's plural right plural elders and notice he calls himself as a fellow elder maybe at this point he's writing from Rome over which even though he's an apostle he's also functioning as an elder of a local church so he as an apostle he could serve in in multiple roles
[01:08:59] he says in a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed what's that he's talking about the second coming when Jesus returns there will
[01:09:11] be great glory his angels we will see him in his glorified body then he says this notice the verb shepherd the flock of God that is among you so that is the function of the elder the bishop
[01:09:25] they are to shepherd they are to pastor he says exercising oversight what's that word oversight what's the noun form of that word a bishop episcopus episcopal right oversight not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering
[01:09:53] over those in your charge. We looked at that, right? Patent? Not as a patent, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd, the archipoemon, appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory he says therefore likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders
[01:10:18] clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble question can the elder shepherd you if you're not willing to be shepherded no doesn't matter how great of a leader you have as an elder as a shepherd if you have a sheep that
[01:10:36] wanders away you cannot be led note that we'll we'll return back to that so in summary elders and overseers serve in the same office it is the same office and their role is to shepherd the
[01:10:54] flock third observation third observation so turn back with me to titus third observation actually turn with me keep going to 1st Timothy chapter 5 keep going turn past Titus all the way back to 1st Timothy chapter 5 because this is the third observation amongst the elders so you have
[01:11:24] a plurality of elders leading the church there are two separate orders of elders or two separate classes of elders. Now, some flatten the eldership completely and say there's no distinction amongst the elders. And historically, that's what the Plymouth Brethren would do. It's just a plurality
[01:11:47] of elders, no distinction. The Reformed churches have always seen it differently. The Reformed churches have always made a distinction between two different types of elders. And this is following what Calvin wrote in the Institutes and in his commentaries on this passage.
[01:12:10] Okay, so if you look at chapter 5, verse 17, Paul says this, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.
[01:12:29] So all elders are to lead and to rule in the church.
[01:12:33] but notice this distinction. Especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. So amongst the elders, they all are to lead, but some are called to labor in preaching and teaching. They are called to give their lives to the preaching, to evangelism, to the proclamation of the Word of God.
[01:13:04] Now, don't turn there, but you can jot this verse down, but in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, Paul says that Christ, the ascended Christ, has given gifts to the church, and he said he gave some men as apostles.
[01:13:20] Obviously, that office is no longer present with us.
[01:13:23] He gave some men as prophets.
[01:13:25] That office is no longer present with us.
[01:13:27] he gave some as evangelist and then fourthly he said he gave some as pastors and teachers and that's one office the past the office of pastor teacher that's not two separate categories one office the pastor teacher and the pastor teacher was called to be primarily he was to be this first
[01:13:52] 517 to be devoted to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. So the way that they delineated this in Geneva with Calvin, the way that they delineated it is they said, we have some elders
[01:14:09] that are called teaching elders. Those are the pastor-teachers. You have other elders, they are what's called ruling elders and we might call those lay elders so you and so today in most baptist churches how do we what's the terminology that people use some people say well so-and-so's
[01:14:34] a pastor and so-and-so's a lay elder that that's the same thing we're talking about a teaching elder and a ruling elder. We're talking about a pastor-teacher versus a lay elder.
[01:14:50] Another interesting possibility of where you might see this. You remember in Revelation 2 and 3, where Jesus Christ is speaking to the different churches, and he says each message to the seven churches is addressed to the angel of the church. Greek word is angelos and it simply
[01:15:18] means messenger. An angel is a messenger and an angel is a messenger that brings a word from God to men. That's one of their functions. But it also can refer to people. So many expositors believe
[01:15:32] that when John is recording this and Jesus is recording these messages to the seven churches that it's an address to the pastor-teacher of that specific church.
[01:15:44] Now, most churches, we're not big churches.
[01:15:47] Most churches, you would have a plurality of elders, and you would probably only have one pastor-teacher because they're small churches.
[01:15:56] So you would probably only have one man who was devoted full-time to teaching and preaching the Word of God.
[01:16:03] Is that still true?
[01:16:05] Yes, absolutely.
[01:16:06] you go across most of the churches in the world are small churches, but it was important the apostles believed that there would be plurality of elders and yet also this distinction with a pastor teacher. Let me give you a quote. This is from R.B. Kuyper. I read this book in seminary.
[01:16:27] It's from his book, The Glorious Body of Christ, and he says this. He says, although the minister, you could say pastor, is both a ruling and teaching elder, for good reason he is usually denominated a teaching elder. His central task is to teach men the word of God
[01:16:46] that is incomparably his most important business. So do you see this distinction?
[01:16:56] Pastor-teachers, and our church would have multiple pastor-teachers, their responsibilities that dedicate their lives to the preaching and teaching of the word of God. All the pastor teachers are elders. They all serve together. They all make up a corporate body that is to lead
[01:17:16] the church. So in summary, the elders are all bishops or overseers. Their role is to shepherd the flock under the lordship of Christ. And then within the elders, you have two orders, what we might call the ruling elder and then the teaching elder, the lay elder and the pastor-teachers.
[01:17:41] Now, the ruling elders and the pastor-teachers are to work together. The ruling elders are also called to be able to teach the Word of God. Now, I think there's an important implication here, something for you to think about, and hopefully not for a long time, because you understand
[01:18:02] when you hear what I'm going to say. When a pastor dies or retires, whose responsibility should it be to select the next pastor teacher, the next senior pastor, if you will? This is what we sometimes call it in American language. Whose responsibility is that? Let me tell you what most
[01:18:28] Baptist churches have done. Most Baptist churches say, well, let's select, let's go to the congregation and select people from various demographics of the congregation and pull what people think and then they're going to select the next pastor teacher.
[01:18:49] Do you think that's the biblical model?
[01:18:51] What you want to have is a plurality of elders.
[01:18:56] These ruling elders who know doctrine and they are to lead the church in finding this next pastor-teacher.
[01:19:08] Again, like I said, hopefully this won't be an issue for 40 more years for this church.
[01:19:14] But if something were to happen, the elders need to be the ones that are leading the church even with selecting the next leadership.
[01:19:26] And I say that because so many churches do this wrong and it ends up derailing the ministries of the church.
[01:19:34] the elders, the lay elders, the ruling elders, they are to lead. They are to lead. Okay, that gets to the function of the elders. Second question, what are elders to do? What do elders do?
[01:19:48] Look at verse 5. He says, this is why, Titus, I left you in Crete, so that, purpose statement, you might put what remained into order. Underline that phrase. They are to put what remained into
[01:20:06] order. So think about, for a second, let's use a farming metaphor. Did Jesus ever compare the kingdom of God using agricultural terms? Kingdom of God is like seed planted in a field. Kingdom of God is like wheat that is sown, the devil plants. Yes, all the time, right? Always using
[01:20:27] farming metaphors. So if you think about the church as a farm, the responsibility of the overseer of the elder is to make sure the crop is growing up in rows, to make sure that weeds
[01:20:43] aren't growing, to make sure that rabbits aren't coming in and eating the harvest. If you use a shepherding paradigm, the responsibility of the shepherd, the elder, is to lead the sheep, to shepherd the sheep. So three functions that we see of the elders. First, let me give you these
[01:21:08] three quickly. The elders, this is so simple, so simple. The elders lead the sheep. The elders lead the sheep. And they do this, by the way, do you remember what Peter said? As under shepherds
[01:21:24] of Christ. Am I a shepherd or am I a sheep? Answer both. I am a sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:21:34] I am an under-shepherd of Christ. But elders are called to lead the sheep, to shepherd the sheep underneath the chief shepherd. This is the primary function of an elder. An elder is not serving on a board of directors and this is something that is is I think
[01:22:02] probably the most prevalent view in the American church is that that elders function essentially as a board of trustees do we have the finances in order do we have the is the building and grounds
[01:22:15] taken care of or is do we have a budget for for this next year things like that but but the general idea of the elders the general function is that they're shepherds that they're watching over the
[01:22:31] souls of the people that they are shepherding and one of the primary ways that they do this we saw this we saw this earlier and uh in first peter 5 but one of the primary ways that elders are to do
[01:22:46] this is by setting the example. Elders cannot say, do as I say but not as I do. Elders lead by setting the example in their personal Christian life. Paul said, Philippians 3, 1, follow me
[01:23:07] as I follow Christ. Paul told Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, 12, set the believers an example in speech and conduct and love and faith in purity so elders are to shepherd and they are to shepherd first and
[01:23:26] foremost by setting the example but to shepherd can a shepherd be an absentee shepherd like let like think about this for a second can you say that i'm a shepherd and my flock is like 15 miles
[01:23:43] away you can't isn't that kind of what the the american church has done with all this multi-site stuff oh yeah i pastor all those people who are they i have no idea i'm never around them is that
[01:23:59] shepherding no i mean that idea is so foreign to the new testament the the elders are to shepherd the people they have to be amongst the people if you're a shepherd there was a reason why shepherds
[01:24:16] were looked down upon. You know why? They stank. They weren't allowed in polite society because they were around the sheep. The shepherd should smell like his sheep. The shepherd is amongst his people, not in some ivory tower somewhere, certainly not on some screen abstracted from
[01:24:40] his people. I've seen it now. There's churches in Texas that use hologram preachers. Let's just bring in the hologram to speak to you is that shepherding and it's no wonder why churches are floundering people are not being shepherded second function so that so the elders are to lead the
[01:25:05] sheep secondly they're to feed the sheep and we're going to skip down we're going to come back to verses six through eight okay we're going to come back through to verses six or eight next week
[01:25:15] I want you to skip down to verse nine. Notice this. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that, there's another purpose clause, he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine. So the elder is called, this is all elders by the way, this is not just the
[01:25:43] pastor teachers, this is all elders. They're all called to be able to give instruction in sound doctrine. The word give instruction means to call alongside, to call alongside, parakaleo. Kaleo means call, para means along, you come alongside something, the parables,
[01:26:07] para. Jesus would tell a story that would come alongside a point he was making.
[01:26:12] so the elders are called it's a it's a really an amazing picture right what does a shepherd do with the sheep he walks he walks next to the flock he's calling them come come here come on he's calling
[01:26:28] to the sheep he's coming alongside them and he's he's speaking to them what is he to speak to them notice very very simple right very simple what does he say sound doctrine sound doctrine that
[01:26:44] word sound is where we get our English word hygiene, hygienos. It means healthy. It's doctrine that is healthy. What is doctrine that is healthy? It's the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the apostles.
[01:27:01] That's it. You're not to reinvent the message. You're not to come up with something on the fly.
[01:27:08] You speak the message that I delivered to you. That's 2 Timothy 2.2, what you've heard from me in the presence of faithful men and trust to other faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
[01:27:20] So you take the message that you heard from me, which is sound, it leads to health.
[01:27:28] So leader, as shepherds, we're not to lead by force of personality as if with our own personality, we can coerce people to live the Christian life like some sort of spiritual cheerleader come on you can do it you can you know is that what we're
[01:27:51] supposed to do to pump you up no you our job is to get out of the way so that you can hear from Christ how do you hear from Christ answer his word you need to be fed the word of God guess what
[01:28:15] I need to be fed the word of God. Amazing statement in 1 Timothy 4. He says, if you, Timothy, teach the word of God, he says, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
[01:28:29] In other words, even the preachers being fed the word of God. We need to be fed. What do sheep need?
[01:28:38] Sheep need pasture. They need to be fed. What does a crop need? A crop needs fertilizer, water. It needs to be fed. And so as shepherds, we are called very simply to feed the sheep
[01:28:55] and get out of the way. Remember Jesus to Peter? What did he say? Peter, do you love me? Three times. Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Feed my sheep. So the responsibility of an elder is to
[01:29:11] be able to handle the Word of God in any situation. If somebody's struggling with anorexia, the elder needs to be able to bring a word from God. If somebody's downcast, the elder needs to be able
[01:29:24] to bring a word from God. If somebody's struggling with a doctrinal issue, how do we know Jesus is the Son of God? I just had some Mormons come and tell me otherwise. The elder needs to bring a word
[01:29:38] from God. Third, so the elders lead the sheep, the elders feed the sheep, and third, the elders protect the sheep. Notice, final clause in verse 9, also rebuke those who contradict it.
[01:29:57] Rebuke those who contradict it. That word rebuke means to convince someone of their wrongdoing or wrong thinking. This is necessary. And here's why. You say, well, that sounds mean-spirited.
[01:30:17] False teaching takes people away from the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes people away from the Lord Jesus Christ. It damages lives. And so we live in a world, I think somebody called it toxic empathy,
[01:30:32] where we want to be so nice to people at the derelict of our responsibilities.
[01:30:41] If we're simply nice to everybody, niceties send people to hell.
[01:30:47] So we have to be able, when necessary, in love, give a rebuke to someone who has wrong thinking or wrong doing.
[01:30:59] Look at, skip down to verse, if you if you i think i left you in in first timothy turn back to titus and and skip down to verse 13 he says this testimony is true same word therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be
[01:31:18] sound in the faith the rebuke is given in order to help them be sound in their faith to be sound in their thinking and by the way guess who uses the rebuke god the holy spirit jesus said john
[01:31:32] 16.8, and when he, the Holy Spirit, comes, he will, same word, convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. So the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment through the rebuke that the elders, the evangelists, the apostles give.
[01:31:50] So if you're thinking about the church as a field, the elders, they lead the church. They put they put the crop into rows they keep it in order second they fertilize the crop they feed the crop
[01:32:06] and then third they protect the crop they protect the field they protect the flock they don't allow the deer and the rabbits to come in and eat the crop when I was growing up I would read about Peter Rabbit remember Peter Rabbit and he and his friends what were they
[01:32:31] called Flopsy Mopsy Cottontail. And where would they go? Into Farmer McGregor's crop.
[01:32:44] They were just these nice creatures. They just want to go eat, eat, eat, eat, eat. And Farmer McGregor is always chasing them, trying to kill the rabbits, right? Now, the older I've gotten, the more I sympathize with Farmer McGregor. Isn't this the role of the elder? You keep out the bad
[01:33:12] guys from destroying the harvest that Jesus Christ has planted. If you don't keep them out, what happens? Naive farmer, what happens? Where's Lee Holder? Is Lee Holder here? Lee Holder, right there yeah i i used to walk this guy is a gardener extraordinaire and and lee would put up
[01:33:37] these wiring around his his garden keep the birds keep i mean he's doing everything he can to keep out the rabbits the birds the squirrels everything and that's the picture isn't it that we gotta keep the false teachers out in love
[01:33:56] and when necessary, give a rebuke.
[01:34:00] Now, what's the key to being able to do this?
[01:34:04] What's the key to being able to do this?
[01:34:06] He tells us, look at the very beginning of verse nine.
[01:34:15] The elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, as taught by who?
[01:34:23] The apostles.
[01:34:25] Hold firm.
[01:34:25] it's the picture of grasping something till your knuckles turn white you're gripping it so hard you're not going to let go Paul says that's the idea is you're holding fast to the apostolic teaching and you're holding it fast so hard you're never going to lose your grip because when you
[01:34:51] lose your grip bad things happen bad things will happen in the Marine Corps every Marine in basic training whether it's boot camp or OCS all the Marine bases there's a standard Marine obstacle course and it's over a hundred yards long various obstacles poles that you flip over
[01:35:15] and walls that you climb and all this and you're and you're running the obstacle course and at the very end of the obstacle course awaits a 20 or sometimes 22 foot rope that's at the end so you
[01:35:28] see all the obstacles you look past all the obstacles and at the very end is the big rope and you got to navigate all the obstacles as quick as you can but the whole time you're thinking
[01:35:40] I better not waste all my upper body strength because I know what waits me at the end and then you get to that rope? And by the way, you know what the secret of climbing the rope is? Use your
[01:35:53] legs. Use your legs. You don't just want to Tarzan it. You want to use your legs and help. Anyway, I wish I could show you, but I know we got some Marines here. Is Marshall here? Where's Marshall?
[01:36:08] Yeah, right over here. You know what I'm talking about. But I was a series commander at Parris island and so I was dealing with all the recruits and I would you know help the recruits we would
[01:36:21] teach them we would train them how to run the obstacle course and what we would tell them is look when you get to that rope you climb up and and you have to touch the wooden bar at the top
[01:36:31] to finish so you got to climb all the way to the top we would tell them don't let go don't let go and I saw recruits let go because you keep climbing and you're just using that upper
[01:36:52] body strength and and your forearms are getting so sore and you get up there and your arms begin to shake and then just let go and when you let go you fall all the way to the deck all the way to
[01:37:08] the ground court we had some wood chips to to soften the fall a little bit um what's the responsibility of the elders don't let go i don't care if the the secularists are beating down the
[01:37:28] door we can't let go because the church is to be a pillar and buttress of the truth we hold fast to the trustworthy word as taught closing story do we have time for a closing story no we don't but
[01:37:45] I'm going to tell you anyway. Okay. Martin Lloyd-Jones. Y'all know I talk incessantly about Martin Lloyd-Jones. I did my dissertation on Martin Lloyd-Jones. Perhaps the greatest preacher in the 20th century. London, people came in droves, joined Westminster Chapel
[01:38:07] under Martin Lloyd-Jones' ministry, and God blessed it tremendously, unbelievably, influenced so many Christians all over the world. In 1968, Martin Lloyd-Jones was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and he had to have surgery immediately with this stomach cancer. And
[01:38:32] he had to recover for probably, I think it was three months in the hospital.
[01:38:37] And after he recovered, he informed, and the church had what they called trustees. He informed the trustees of the church that he was going to retire. That was it. He felt led to travel and
[01:38:52] write, and he would go on to live until 1981. But my point is, in saying all this, if there was a weakness in Lloyd-Jones, if there was a weakness in Lloyd-Jones, it's that he failed to raise up
[01:39:05] men to serve alongside him as ruling elders or lay elders. Because when he left, there was a leadership vacuum, and really, they did not handle the transition well, and they ended up hiring a guy. I'm not going to say his name, but the next pastor,
[01:39:25] they didn't have strong leadership in place. The next pastor led them into essentially Pentecostalism, where they became a charismatic church. When I went back to Westminster Chapel, and I went and visited a couple summers ago, they said, who's Lloyd-Jones? They had no idea,
[01:39:42] and today that church is a shadow of what it once was when Lloyd-Jones was there. My point is is that for churches to flourish over a long period of time, it can never depend on just one
[01:40:01] man. It can't depend upon me or whoever the next pastor teacher is. There has to be a plurality of godly men shepherding the church as under shepherds of christ that is the apostolic model and that is what christ promise promises to bless so this is the design the church is to be led by
[01:40:28] elders the congregation is to submit to the leadership of the elders as much as they can under the lordship of christ and the elders are to shepherd and we're going to pick it up next week
[01:40:38] with their character and their qualification.
[01:40:44] So with that, let's pray.
[01:40:48] Heavenly Father, we thank you for these instructions regarding your church, elders serving as under shepherds of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:40:59] We pray, Lord, that we as elders here at the King's Chapel would shepherd your sheep well, that we would be committed to leading the sheep, feeding the sheep protecting the sheep and that we would do it all
[01:41:14] for your honor and your glory amen now we're going to stand we're going to sing a final hymn and then do the doxology let's give glory to Christ praise his name

[01:41:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:41:26] if you would

[01:44:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:44:27] lift your hands and sing praise to our triune God

[01:44:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:44:31] for from him

[01:45:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:45:23] and through him and to him, to Christ, for all things, to him be the glory forever and ever, worlds without end. Amen.