Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Talk about all that we have discussed with Preaching of the Word and the Right administration of the ordinances (the ordinances point us to the gospel)

Now for the next two weeks we will be talking about

2 marks that I believe are necessary for a church to be a healthy church

godly leadership

biblical understanding of church membership

The Reality of Leaders

We see this all through the Bible, the Lord gathers together His people and He raises us leaders for His people.

Lord gathers together His people and He raises us leaders for His people.

The Lord had His people in the land of Egypt and He does not just leave them to themselves to try to figure out what He was doing and how they were to leave the land of Egypt

No He raised up a leader, the Lord called a leader to speak His Word to His people and to lead His people

He prepared Moses and called Moses, we see that in Exodus 1-3 and Moses is raised up to lead God’s pe

He prepared Moses and called Moses, we see that in and Moses is raised up to lead God’s people

We also see, while we are thinking about Moses, that the burden of leadership is heavy and that the Lord gave Moses others to help

Aaron originally labors with Moses and as we continue to read in Exodus we see the Lord providing others

As we continue to read we see other leaders that the Lord raises up

Moses

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

David (and you have the priests and the prophets in the OT)

Then when we come to the NT

At the birth of the church we have the Apostles that the Lord gave to the Church

Ephesians 4:

Responsibility of Leaders

What are the responsibilities of the leaders of God’s people?

Shepherd

One of the words that may summarize these responsibilities is that the leaders of God’s people are Shepherds

Listen to what Paul says as he charges the leaders of the church in Ephesus

We see that Paul exhorts these men whom he refers to as overseers and he calls them to care for the church of God or to shepherd the church of God.

1 Peter 5:1-4

Again the same verb is used here by Peter as he exhorts the leaders in the church that he is writing to.

He refers to them as elders and he exhorts them to shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

Another interesting thing that we see here is that these shepherds will have to give an account to the Chief Shepherd, the One who purchased these sheep with His blood.

So what are some of the implications of this?

Caring is one of the words that comes to my mind.

Caring for people, shouldering their various needs, and bearing them for Christ, the Chief Shepherd.

One of the things that this clearly implies is naming and knowing the sheep.

We have to have names of who those are who are under our care and we have to know them.

Sheep know that they belong to certain shepherds and the shepherds know which sheep belong to them.

The sheep are named, they are known, and they are counted every day.

The shepherds get to know the disposition and the tendencies of each of the sheep.

The more the sheep is nurtured, counted, checked, nursed back to health, rescued, protected, and feed the more the shepherd gets to know the sheep and grows to care for the sheep.

The church is not a business, but is a group of persons; individuals with feelings, aspirations, convictions, needs, weaknesses, tendencies, struggles.

The church is a gathering of those who have been called out of this world and are being shepherded by the Chief Shepherd toward the Celestial City (as John Bunyan would put it).

Each one has perspective shaping histories, unique callings, each one must be discipled and encouraged in the way best for them and in order to know what that way is they must be known.

Leaders must cultivate relationships within the church, they must build intimacy so that they might care for people entrusted to them by the Lord.

So first, leaders have to build relationships within the church if they are going to care for the members.

But what does this care look like?

1. Provision

Feeding is a necessary part of shepherding.

There must be adequate, balanced nutrition.

Shepherds must make sure that the sheep are eating on that which is nutritious and not something poisonous, not something that is harmful and not eating trash.

Paul said in

Let no one deceive you with empty words ( ESV)

And there are all sorts of warnings concerning false teachers and false teachings throughout the New Testament.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

( ESV)

Leaders are called to give healthy teaching.

Called to make sure that the people are being fed by the Word of God.

Scriptural truth alone is sufficient for rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

These are the tasks of the shepherds, the elders, the pastors.

How did Jesus exhort Peter?

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

( ESV)

One of the chief roles of the spiritual leaders is to feed the sheep by teaching the Word of God, hence the qualification in "able to teach" and then also in , "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 rebuke those who contradict it."

2. Healing

Leading also means healing.

It means assessing the flock to see if there are symptoms of spiritual sickness.

If there is symptoms that the cancers of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, or pride have begun to grow within a brother.

To know if and how a brother is struggling, to be able to encourage him and to pray for him and with him.

Being able to prevent spiritual diseases if you will and to prevent the spread of spiritual disease within a body.

Leading also means going and finding the sheep that have gone astray.

There are one billion sheep in the world and each one belongs to a shepherd and matter to that shepherd.

Good shepherds can give an account for each and every sheep.

There is not one that the shepherds do not know about.

Although shepherds may be responsible for thousands of sheep they would feel ashamed if they could not account for one that was lost.

Brothers, like sheep people wander off and lose their way.

They need to be rescued and returned to the flock where they belong.

They need to be "saved".

One of the essential tasks of shepherd leadership is the arduous retrieval of those who for whatever reason have lost their way.

Most don't even know that they are lost until it is too late.

We could go on to say that the goal is not just to find them, but to also lead them to repentance.

Think of verses like this:

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,

20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

( ESV)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

( ESV)

Leaders or shepherds of the church are to lead in this restoration within the church.

3. Protection

We have already seen this but I will mention it again here.

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 rebuke those who contradict it.

( ESV)

3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,

4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.