God's Design for Church Elders

Titus 1:5 (read Titus 1:5-9)

Put what remains into order

Paul instructs Titus to finish establishing order in the church on the Island of Crete

The phrase literally means “set right the things lacking”

There is some unfinished business in establishing the church on Crete

There seems to be a normal pattern that Paul and the Apostles established in their ministries

Preach the Gospel where there is no existing church

Men and women are converted to faith in Christ

Strengthen the faith of new believers through teaching and discipleship

Sometimes, this was a brief time, and sometimes it was an extended time

Appoint elders in every church to shepherd the flock after the Apostle departs for the next city to preach the Gospel

Titus’ focus in establishing order is appointing elders

There are clearly other issues that must be addressed in Crete, as we will see

But Paul specifically tells Titus that he must not neglect his task of ensuring a group of elders would be established in this new church

The office of elder

What it is

Shepherd (Pastor), Overseer (Bishop), Elder (πρεσβύτερος)

Interchangeable terms

Each term, however, says something about the office

Shepherd- Pastoral care and guidance

Overseer- administration and oversight

Elder- mature leadership in the faith

A pastor is an elder, and an elder is an overseer, and an overseer is a shepherd

Biblical office of church leadership

This is the only church leadership structure seen anywhere in the New Testament

It is seen consistently in the New Testament

It is a plurality

Acts 14:23-And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 20:17- Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Philippians 1:1- Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

1 Timothy 5:17- Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

What it is not

It is not the same as the office of deacon

Deacons are tasked with a service ministry

Elders are tasked with a leadership ministry

The qualifications for elders differ in their requirement for the ability to teach

It is not a single pastor over a church

If it is a plurality without exception, then it is never a single shepherd over a flock

It is not a ruling office

It’s role is to lead, not make all of the decisions of the church

We are a congregational church by conviction becasue the New Testament points us to this type of church governance

A self-appointing body

Acts 6:2-3- And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

The role of the elders

Pray for the flock

Acts 6:4- But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word

Preach and teach

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13- We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Set an example for the saints in godliness

1 Timothy 4:12-13- Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

Hebrews 13:7- Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Guard the flock from false doctrine

Acts 20:28-31- Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Care for the particular needs of the sheep

This can be seen from this previous passage

Exercise oversight and administration

1 Peter 5:1-2- So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

They will give an account for the souls of their sheep

Hebrews 13:17- Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.

The gospel and elders

This is not peripheral or irrelevant

Every decision of a church is ultimately a spiritual decision

From paint color to communion

From spending decisions to song choices

From bookshelves to Bible studies

From lawn maintenance to leadership meetings

From church dinners to church discipline

Nothing that happens inside a local church can be disconnected from the spiritual realities of the Gospel

This is becasue we are the only visible display of Christ and His Gospel to the world

God has cared for His people enough to give them a wise structure of leadership

The sheep are protected, and the gospel is defended

If God gave His Son to die for the sin of His Church, then of course He will give her wise leadership structures to guide and protect her on her way to glory

God’s design is beautiful and good

Let us love this design

Let us pursue this design

May Christ receive glory in us His church, now and forevermore

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There are times in which passages arrive in our laps in a sermon series that seem distant or irrelevant to many in the congregation. They seem to be for other people but not for you. For example, when a passage directed toward fathers comes along, sometimes children and mothers have a tendency to disengage from the sermon. But isn’t the father the leader of the home? And shouldn’t all of the members of a household care to know how the leader of the house ought to lead so that they can help him and keep him accountable? Or, when a passage about marriage appears, all of the single people in the room will zone out since it doesn’t seem to be a word for them. But what if that single person gets married one day? Or even if not, isn’t it important for single people in the church to be able to encourage and properly relate to married couples in the church? Or, a passage about women is preached, and the men in the room instantly begin to listen as being off the hook since they are not women. But aren’t husbands called to love and lead their wives? And aren’t men called to love and support their sisters in Christ? How will they do this well if they do not engage with what Scripture says to women? You begin to see the issue, don’t you?

This morning we arrive at a text that will bring a unique temptation to many of you to disengage from the sermon content and think about a variety of other things. I’m pleading with you not to do that because this passage has a great deal to say you as a part of this local church.

Put what remains into order

Paul is writing to Titus after the Gospel has been preached and a church has been established on the Mediterranean island of Crete. Paul takes the first sentence after his greeting as his opportunity to instruct Titus to finish establishing order in the church on Crete. The Greek phrase that he pens here literally means “set right the things lacking.” There was apparently some unfinished business in establishing the church on Crete, and for Paul to make it his first directive shows how important it is to put these unfinished things into order.

It might be helpful to point out that there is a normal pattern that Paul and the Apostles established in their ministries. Step one: preach the Gospel where there is no existing church, and through the preaching of the Gospel men and women are converted to faith in Jesus. Step two: strengthen the faith of new believers through teaching and discipleship. Sometimes, this was a brief time (which seems likely to have been the case here), and sometimes it was an extended time (as was the case in Ephesus). Step three: appoint elders in every church to shepherd the flock after the Apostle departs for the next city to preach the Gospel. It is at step three that we find Paul writing to Titus.

Titus’ focus in establishing order is appointing elders in the Cretan church. There are clearly other issues that must be addressed in the church, as we will see in weeks to come, but Paul specifically tells Titus that he must not neglect his task of ensuring a group of elders would be established in this new church. So, for the rest of our time together this morning my goal is to answer two questions: “What is the office of elder?” and “What is the function of elders?”

The office of elder

Let’s deal with the first question: What it is the office of elder? To answer this question, perhaps it would be helpful to begin by pointing to a few words: Shepherd (Pastor), Overseer (Bishop), and Elder. These words are used frequently throughout the New Testament with a variety of contexts and applications, and we will see a few of these passages in a few minutes. However, it is important for us to see that they are actually synonymous and largely interchangeable terms. They all refer to the same office. There is something that the New Testament writers would have us see by the use of three terms for one office rather than one. Each term, however, says something about the office. Shepherd is a word that emphasizes pastoral care and guidance over a local flock of believers. Overseer is a word that emphasizes administration and oversight of the church body. Elder probably emphasizes mature leadership in the faith, speaking to the ability to lead in wisdom and truth rather than immaturity and ignorance. A pastor is an elder, and an elder is an overseer, and an overseer is a shepherd. They are synonyms for the same office.

Even these terms for this office begin to point us to what it is: the office of elder is the biblical office of church leadership. This is the only church leadership structure seen anywhere in the New Testament. There is not even a hint of any other form of leadership that would have been established in any of the first-century churches. It is seen consistently and clearly in the New Testament.

There is another important observation ot be made about eldership: it is a plurality, not a single pastor. Not only is eldership the only leadership structure presented in the New Testament, but it also never is presented as anything less than elders- plural. I will simply give 4 brief passages where the plural form of the word appears:

Acts 14:23-And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 20:17- Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Philippians 1:1- Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

1 Timothy 5:17- Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

There is the consistent form of elder/overseer/shepherd when it refers to the office of elder.

So, if we have seen, in broad strokes, what it is, then what is it not? We live on the tail of a century filled with much confusion around the role of elders and the other biblically commissioned church office: deacon. It is becasue of the common confusion that it is just as important to say what the office of elder is not. It is not the same as the office of deacon. Admittedly, there are fewer clear passages on the office of deacon in the New Testament, but what is clear is that every time it shows up, there is clearly seen as a distinct office from that of elder. Deacons are tasked with a service ministry in the church. This seems to be what we see in Acts 6. On the other hand, elders are tasked with a leadership ministry in the church. They are not disconnected, but they are separate. This is most clearly seen in the qualifications for elders. They are two entirely separate lists in 1 Timothy 3, and differ in their requirement for the ability to teach, which is required for elders but not for deacons. The office of elder and deacons are two distinct offices that must not have their lines blurred.

It is also not a single pastor over a church. If it is a plurality without exception, then it is never a single shepherd over a flock. This may be an obvious point, but it is worth noting since the prominent leadership structure of churches in our tradition in the past 100 years has been a single pastor with a board of deacons or board of directors, largely comprised of deacons.

It is not a ruling office. It’s role is to lead, not make all of the decisions of the church. Now of course, the elders do make plenty of decisions on behalf of a church body. However, the New Testament seems to point strongly to a congregational-ruled church in which the congregation together makes the important decisions of church life. We are a congregational church by conviction becasue the New Testament points us toward this type of church governance

Finally, the elders are no a self-appointing body. We can see this clearly even in our passage in Titus 1, but we can see it even more clearly in Acts 6:2-3- And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. The church is given the authority to select qualified candidates who are then appointed by the Apostles. Although there are no Apostles in our day, it seems best to understand the process of establishing elders as coming from the congregation just as we do for any other pastor who is hired here.

The role of the elders

This brings us now to the role of elders in the church. I want to briefly point out 6 responsibilities of the elders. Much more can be said here, but I will remain brief with biblical support for each responsibility.

Pray for the flock. I intentionally place this responsibility first because it is, maybe to your surprise, perhaps the most neglected of the elder responsibilities. Brothers and sisters, if a man is qualified in every other way and yet does not strive to faithfully give himself to prayer on your behalf do not call him to be a pastor here. If I cease to give substantial energy and time to prayer for you, then I should no longer be your pastor. Listen to what to Apostles said in Acts 6:4- But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The issue was that waiting tables was taking up time that they should have been giving to preaching and prayer. Elders must pray for their people.

Preach to and teach the flock. This is the second primary taks of elders. Prayer, preaching, and teaching are not the only responsibilities of elders, but they are the primary ones. In fact, the main distinction of elder qualifications is the ability to teach the Word. Listen to how Paul speaks of their work in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13- We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Set an example for the saints in godliness. Elders are held to an extraordinarily high standard, which will be our focus next week. They must be above reproach. This does not mean sinless because that would disqualify every person on earth. It does mean that they live upright and holy lives before the Lord. Paul tells Timothy, who is the primary elder in Ephesus, in 1 Timothy 4:12-13- Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. And the writer to the Hebrews say in Hebrews 13:7- Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Elders ought to be able to say with the Apostle Paul “imitate me insofar as I imitate Chtrist.”

Guard the flock from false doctrine. Elders are tasked with protecting the flock from false doctrine and false teachers that would threaten the souls of the sheep. This is why they are also called shepherds. They must be tender and caring, but when necessary they must be bold and courageous to fend off threats from outside and inside the church. We see this in Acts as Paul is adressing the Ephesians elders as he leaves them for the last time: Acts 20:28-31- Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Care for the particular needs of the sheep. Elders are also tasked with pastoral care. If a sheep is injured, he must tend to the wound. If a sheep is lost, he must chase after them. If a sheep is sinning, he must tenderly correct them. If a sheep is struggling, he must strive to strengthen and encourage them. This can also be seen from this previous passage in Acts 20.

Finally, elders exercise oversight and administration. They lead by casting a vision for the church as the Spirit leads them. They see to it that the practical administrational needs of the church are cared for and that there is a helpful orderliness to the life of the church. And elders oversee the ministries of the church as those who keep its ministries on task and purpose in the Gospel. Peter addresses the elders in 1 Peter 5:1-2- So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.

In all of these things, elders must be sober-minded and feel the weight of what they are called by God to do. I say this because they will give an account for the souls of their sheep. I will give an account to God for the way that I lead, served, taught, and cared for you. Hebrews 13:17 says- Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Elders are judged more strictly since they bear the weighty responsibility to teach the Word of God to the people of God. Therefore, elders must never use their position for prestige or title, but ought to always tremble before the God of glory as His undershepherds who He has tasked to faithfully care for His beloved sheep.

The gospel and elders

This is not peripheral or irrelevant

Every decision of a church is ultimately a spiritual decision

From paint color to communion

From spending decisions to song choices

From bookshelves to Bible studies

From lawn maintenance to leadership meetings

From church dinners to church discipline

Nothing that happens inside a local church can be disconnected from the spiritual realities of the Gospel

This is becasue we are the only visible display of Christ and His Gospel to the world

God has cared for His people enough to give them a wise structure of leadership

The sheep are protected, and the gospel is defended

God’s design is beautiful and good

Let us love this design

Let us pursue this design

May Christ receive glory in us His church, now and forevermore